Mail carrier annoyed by barking is suspect in killing of family’s dog near Mankato, sheriff’s office says

Law enforcement suspects that the person who fatally shot a dog on the deck of a home near Mankato last month is a mail carrier who spoke months earlier about wanting to “shoot his neighbor’s dogs because they were barking,” according to newly filed court documents.

The disclosure came Wednesday, the same day the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office said on social media that “investigators have identified a suspect, but no additional information will be released regarding the identity of that person at this time.”

Lily, a medium-sized, mixed-breed dog, was killed shortly before 6:30 p.m. on March 30 in South Bend Township.

About two weeks before the shooting, a threatening note was left outside the home of Alyssa DeBill on Neubert Lane and on the property of another dog owner nearby that warned them to keep their dogs from barking, said Sheriff’s Capt. Paul Barta.

Wednesday’s court filings point to a man who lives in the neighborhood and has a long history of being bothered by dogs either near his home or along the route he travels for the U.S. Postal Service.

The search warrant affidavits filed in district court cleared the way for the sheriff’s office to seize from the man’s home a shotgun, various gun cases, a firearm magazine and other gun-related materials. Law enforcement has also collected DNA evidence from the man, who is identified in the filings, as it prepares for possible charges. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

DeBill, who lives with fiancé Preston Fleischer in the 300 block of Neubert Lane, said that Lily, two other dogs and their sons were home at the time of the shooting while she and Fleischer were visiting a friend.

On March 14, Fleischer called 911 and said he found a note under a small rock outside their garage that said, “If your dogs are out barking 1 more [expletive] time, they are DEAD!” That same day, a resident nearby received a similar note and also found fresh vandalism to a vehicle.

On March 30, another neighbor heard the gunfire at the time Lily was shot and called 911.

“The victims and neighbors advised a new person had just moved in” close by, and they shared his name with law enforcement. Investigators determined he has submitted permits to buy guns over the years and has been the subject of hunting complaints reported to law enforcement.

On April 4, the man was interviewed at the sheriff’s office and admitted to leaving threatening notes but denied shooting Lily.

The next day, a co-worker told investigators the man said about four months ago that “he wanted to shoot his neighbor’s dogs because they were barking.”

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which investigates crime in connection with the mail, said Thursday that it is not investigating this carrier. A Postal Service spokesman declined to say whether the man was still working his route in light of the allegations.

The sheriff’s office has partnered with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and arrangements are being made for a necropsy to be conducted by their Veterinary Forensic Science Center to recover additional evidence, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.