SPICEWOOD, Texas — The Spicewood community is looking for answers after a golden retriever named Indy who had been missing from a pet boarding facility was found buried on the pet resort property.
The Burnet County Sheriff's Office said Indy went missing last month while staying at Lucki Dogs Resort in Spicewood.
After learning of his disappearance, Indy's owners started working with a nonprofit out of Austin called Trapping, Rescue and Pet Recovery Services (TRAPRS). They found Indy buried on the pet resort property, after which the sheriff's office said they had an animal control officer report to the scene.
On July 12, Austin Shell, who is the attorney for Cary Morgan, owner of Lucki Dogs Resort, shared that Morgan fired two employees who she believes may be responsible. Shell said that Morgan was not at work that week and never met Indy. Shell said that Morgan was told Indy was missing and that she found out Indy was buried on the property the same day that Indy's family learned. Shell said Morgan is working with sheriff's office as the investigation continues and as they wait for the dog's necropsy to come back.
KVUE also emailed Morgan directly and she told us that she is distraught and her heart hurts for Indy's family. She also says she is looking for truth and answers.
As of July 12, no charges had been filed and Mike Sorenson, captain of support services at the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office, said the resort is allowed to stay open.
Although Google showed that the pet resort was temporarily closed, Shell said that is false and that the pet resort is still open and running. He said they are waiting on a necropsy to be done on Indy, which is an autopsy for dogs.
“Well again, we still have to get some statements to find out where we are at with the investigation," said Sorenson. "The cause of death is a determining factor we have to utilize to determine the type of charge we are going to be able to file, whether it is cruelty or not. That is the big issue right now. It is hard to give a timeline based off of that. There are still a lot of moving pieces to this puzzle and we are still trying to put everything together."
Sorenson said they have not searched the grounds of the pet resort, but said that could come later on. They did send an officer on July 6 who went inside the pet resort and said it looked clean and that AC units were working in the areas where the dogs stayed.
Despite posts on social media by some community members, the sheriff’s office said they are only aware of the one dog body found on the property.
The Burnet County Sheriff's Office asks anyone with information on Indy's death or "direct information about Lucki Dogs Resort" to contact them.
Meanwhile, the Crespell family is still seeking answers on what happened to their Indy.
They told the Austin American-Statesman that they had left an emergency number with the facility and never heard a word about Indy's disappearance until they called a day before they were set to pick him up. A woman on the phone told the Crespells that Indy and another dog had escaped three days before and they had not been seen since.
The Crespell family then spent days searching the Spicewood and Burnet County areas, putting up flyers. They soon got an anonymous call from a man who said he knew Indy had been buried on the Lucki Dogs property.
With the help of TRAPPRS, they found a corner of tarp protruding from the ground. They pulled it up and found Indy, with a microchip confirming his identity.
KVUE has been in contact with the resort and is still waiting on a statement from them.
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