Arrest warrants have been issued for two men in a break-in last week at a home in Winter Harbor that police say resulted in the alleged kidnapping and killing of the owner’s dog.
Nathan A. Burke, 37, of Hancock and Justin T. Chipman, 22, of Steuben and Winter Harbor, are wanted on charges of burglary, Winter Harbor Police Chief Danny Mitchell said Friday night. He said he is consulting with the Hancock County District Attorney’s Office and that other charges may be pending.
The homeowner, Phillip Torrey, had traveled to New Hampshire to see a concert when the alleged break-in occurred. His sister went to his house the day after Torrey left, on the morning of Friday, Aug. 24, and found that someone had broken in and that Torrey’s dog Franky was missing.
Mitchell said the dog’s body later was recovered “washed up on the shoreline” but declined to say more precisely where the dog’s body was found, either in Winter Harbor or elsewhere. He also declined to say how the dog may have been killed.
A sport-utility vehicle owned by Torrey also allegedly was taken from the property, damaged and then later returned as part of the same incident, the chief added. He said several thousand dollars worth of damage was done to the vehicle.
Torrey said Friday that he does not know why anyone would break into his house and take his dog. He said his dog was 6 years old and weighed only 30 pounds.
Torrey said it is “so sad and so heartbreaking to think about how scared he must have been” as he allegedly was taken away and then killed. “He must of been so confused.”
Anyone that may know where Burke and Chipman are located is asked to call the Hancock County Regional Communications Center at 207-667-8866.
