Man sneaks into woman’s home after he’s rejected, steals dog and kills it, PA cops say
A Pennsylvania man is accused of breaking into a woman’s home after she rejected him, then stealing her dog and killing it, police told news outlets.
Joseph Winters Hillard, 28, was arrested Jan. 29 on charges including burglary, tampering with evidence and cruelty to animals, court records filed in Butler County show.
No attorney information was listed for Hillard.
Hillard’s arrest comes more than a year after the Butler County woman called 911 to report a break-in at her home on Jan. 5, 2024, and that her dog was missing, seemingly taken, according to ButlerRadio.com.
The woman believed Hillard was responsible, the outlet reported.
She told police she had recently ended a friendship with Hillard and that he must have taken the dog to get back at her. But officers found no evidence of forced entry and nothing missing but the dog, the outlet reported.
The situation with Hillard was more complicated than the woman not wanting to be friends.
Police say she met Hillard on a dating app, WTAE reported, “and he made her uncomfortable.”
Following the woman’s break-in call, investigators spoke to Hillard’s parents, who told police he has mental health issues, and then talked to Hillard, the station reported. However, both Hillard and his parents said they didn’t know anything about the woman’s dog — a 10-year-old pug — or what may have happened to it.
The case went unsolved until late January, when Hillard walked into a police station and told officers he had snuck into the woman’s home through a window more than a year earlier and left with her dog, police told the station. He said he hadn’t meant to kill the dog, that he intended to give it back, but he beat it to death in a fit of anger, according to police.
Hillard’s bail was set at $100,000, records show.
Butler County is a roughly 40-mile drive northeast from Pittsburgh.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Man sneaks into woman’s home after he’s rejected, steals dog and kills it, PA cops say."