DRY RIDGE, Ky. -- Sarah Austin's family suffered a big loss Wednesday when their tiny dog was shot in the head.
And what's worse, she said, is the fact that police agencies won't help her figure out who killed her pet.
Austin's neighbor found the 4-year-old dog, named Vader, in his back yard Wednesday morning. She'd let Vader out before she took her son to school, and the neighbor came knocking a few minutes later.
"He went back to his house to grab the box that his body was in, and he brought him to us, and we saw that it was our dog," she said.
Vader's eyes were still open, she said, but she could tell he was gone. Then she noticed a bullet hole, right above his eye.
Austin said the dog belonged to her grandfather, who passed away two years ago.
"So that was the last I had of him, and now he's gone," she said.
Austin cremated the dog Wednesday, but she said she'd still like police to interview her neighbors so she gets some justice.
"Animals breathe and walk and feel just as humans do," she said. "They need the same rights. They need the same respect."
