Chihuahua's Body Exhumed So Its Alleged Killer Can Be Punished

Illinois police took unusual steps to bring a Chihuahua's alleged killer to justice, the Peoria Journal Star reports.

A Peoria prosecutor got a search warrant to exhume the body of a tiny dog called Beep Beep after its owner claimed her boyfriend had killed it.

Allen Thompson, 41, is accused of throwing the dog against a wall in a fit of rage at his girlfriend's home, according to the Journal Star.

The girlfriend, who's not named in the story, claims Thompson also killed her previous Chihuahua, Princess.

Thompson has been charged with aggravated animal cruelty, a felony for which he could serve up to five years in prison.

“This is a little dog,” Bartonville Police Chief Brian Fengel told WSJ Law Blog. “We’re treating it like any other human case.”

Beep Beep will undergo the animal version of an autopsy, called a necropsy.

A veterinarian told the Journal Star that procedure has become more common since a new aggravated animal cruelty law was passed in Illinois in 2009.