BR man kills roomate's dog over couch cushion

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After believing his roommate’s dog ripped a hole in his sofa, a 23-year-old man forced a Cheetos bag over the animal’s head, suffocating him before learning about 30 minutes later that the tear was old and not caused by the dog, sheriff’s deputies said.

East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies are searching for Shaun Andrew Parsons after state District Judge Bonnie Jackson signed a warrant for his arrest on April 21.

Parsons, whose last known address is 5535 Goodland Drive, Greenwell Springs, is wanted on one count of aggravated cruelty to animals.Joshua Maddox, the owner of the dog, told deputies he had lived at the Goodland Drive apartment with Parsons for about a month.

On April 17, Maddox said he left the apartment at about 1:30 p.m. The door to his bedroom was the only one open, he said, because that’s where his mixed-breed dog slept, and the door to Parsons’ room was closed, the warrant says.

Four hours after he left, Maddox said Parsons began texting him, asking about why the fabric on Parsons’ living room sofa was torn, the warrant says.

Maddox said he apologized, telling Parsons that he had found the torn cushion a few weeks before, and believing his dog had ripped it, he had turned the cushion over.

After about 30 minutes of back-and-forth texting, Parsons called Maddox and said he had just spoken to his mother who told him the tear had been in the cushion for some time.

Parsons apologized to his roommate, then added, “Your dog is dead.”

He told Maddox the dog’s head was stuck in a Cheetos bag and the animal was dead on Parsons’ bedroom floor.

Maddox hurried home to find the torn cushion on the living room floor next to dog feces, the warrant says. Maddox saw a footprint in the feces and a trail of footprints leading to Parsons’ room where the door was now slightly open.

Inside the room, Maddox found the dog with the bag still over his head.

Maddox told deputies that when he left the apartment earlier that day, the bag had been on top of his headboard, which is 6 feet tall, so there was no way the dog could have knocked the bag down or retrieved it.

He showed deputies a picture of the dog with his head still in the bag.

“In this photo it appeared that the bag was extremely tight fitting on the dog’s head and it is not believed the animal became stuck in the bag on his own,” Deputy Renee Cabirac wrote in the warrant.

“With the totality of the evidence on scene, it appears that the dog was killed by another by means of suffocation,” she added.

Deputies tried contacting Parsons, but calls to his cellphone either went to voice mail or were answered by his father, who said he did not know where his son was, the warrant says.

Maddox also tried sending Parsons a message on Facebook but learned he was blocked from Parsons’ page, the warrant says.

Parsons is due in state District Judge Don Johnson’s courtroom Wednesday for a status hearing in a drug possession case stemming from a February 2012 arrest.

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