Puppy's death prompts big change in area known as the 'corridor of cruelty'

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Ruth wasn't the first dog in distress Jane Fornof-Wesson came across in the corridor of cruelty.

But she was the most disturbing.

"This dog was tortured alive for a while. This is bothering me, far more than all of the other things I've seen out there," Wesson said.

An HPD officer filed a report, but a police spokesman says that officer was not responsible for picking up the dog's remains.

A BARC animal control officer who is part of the Precinct 5 animal cruelty squad came out three days later, but Ruth was too decomposed.

Houston police and Precinct 5 tell us they are investigating, but can't say for sure Ruth was stabbed to death.

"I've grown up with animals. I've had dogs since I was a little kid," said Timothy Colomer, owner of JDog Junk Removing and Hauling of Houston.

Colomer saw our first report on Ruth.

"Animals are part of the family and to hear someone was being cruel to animals and dumping them off here really touched me," Colomer said.

Eighty percent of Colomer's franchise business is made up of veterans.

Seven veterans and seven volunteers spent about eight hours removing three and a half to four tons of trash from the corridor of cruelty.

"We found an additional five animals that have been left out here, some of them probably as early as the last week and some as long as a couple of years," said Colomer.