A Brighton Heights man was being held in the Allegheny County Jail Thursday on charges that he killed his parents' Chihuahua the night before.
Matthew Ondo, 30, faces charges of animal cruelty and possessing instruments of crime after Pittsburgh police said they found a machete and a knife near the bloody crime scene.
Officers from the city's Zone 1 station on the North Side were called to a home on Brighton Road about 6:15 p.m. after Mr. Ondo's parents told police their dog had been decapitated in the backyard.
His mother, Debra Ondo, told police she was playing upstairs with the 14-month-old dog when she heard her son call for Izzy and the dog went running down the stairs. She didn't think anything of it until her husband, Michael Ondo, came home and began yelling, according to a criminal complaint.
Police found the dog's body on the left side of the picnic table in the backyard and its head six inches away. They wrote in the complaint that Matthew Ondo initially denied killing the dog.
After police spotted blood on Matthew Ondo's clothing, he began to say, "The devil did it. Allah did it" and later "the Mexican did it," the complaint says.
Police wrote that Ms. Ondo told them her son is an unemployed heroin addict who they suspect has undiagnosed psychological problems.
Matthew Ondo's criminal record includes previous convictions on charges that he drove under the influence, possessed controlled substances and acted disorderly. He is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing Feb. 26.
First Published: February 13, 2014, 4:16 p.m.
Updated: February 14, 2014, 4:37 a.m.