Crom, a Doberman-Labrador-Pit Bull mix, pauses for a photo.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CENTRALIA – Michelle Nelson and Tim Filer buried their dog last week. Yesterday they buried its head.
Nelson, a 28-year-old nursing assistant who lives in Centralia, had been looking for her pet named Crom for days when she heard someone had set fire to a decapitated dog near the railroad tracks in downtown Centralia.
At first, when a police officer showed her photos of the carcass, she didn’t think it was hers. But when she learned the animal still remained laying out on the gravel off Walnut Street, she went to view it in person. It was Crom.
It’s a mystery what happened to the half Doberman, part Labrador and part Pit Bull mix.
“I just wish the cops had more to tell me; it’s pretty brutal,” Nelson said.
Crom was just a little more than a year old and lived with the couple on Pine Street, but recently moved to Main Street near Centralia College. Filer and Nelson had a kind of joint custody agreement after they separated.
“He was a really sweet dog, my dog,” Nelson said. “He just loved everybody.”
Crom was familiar with the downtown neighborhood as they would take walks to see Filer at work on Tower Avenue just blocks from home, she said.
It was a dark and rainy night when he bolted out the door chasing a cat, she said. It was Aug. 28.
Early on the morning of Aug. 31, the fire department was called to the area behind Power Sports and extinguished the fire in between the two sets of tracks.
Centralia Police Department Sgt. Buster said a large bag of clothes and the dog were burned. Buster told Nelson he was wrapped in a sweater. Police didn’t think the animal was alive when it was lit.
No arson investigator was requested. Police advised BNSF to come and remove it because it was on railroad property.
Filer’s mother contacted police two days ago when she got a tip about where Crom’s head might be found. She and Officer Angie Humphrey walked the area and found a mound of rocks along the side of the tracks a few blocks south of where the body had been.
“The collar was still on him,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey said she doesn’t know what happened, but she’d like to find out.
“There’s some pretty morbid individuals out there,” Humphrey said today. “There’s a lot of speculation, but without more information, it’s hard to say.”
It’s difficult to imagine for a train to have decapitated the dog, and what animal is going to lay with its head on the rails anyhow, Humphrey said.
“I’m just kind of speculating, because it’s not normal for a dog to lose its head,” she said.
Humphrey asks if anyone has any information about what happened to the dog, that they call her at the Centralia Police Department, or call Lewis County Crime Stoppers, where they can be anonymous.
Crime Stoppers can be reached at 1-800-748-6422.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
To those that speculate the dog got hit by the train… Then, am I to believe that poor dog, landed in a sack of clothes and somehow set himself on fire? That doesn’t make sense…
Is every overlooking where the head was found of that poor dog. All that was said was a mound of rocks. Where the rocks over the head.
Also…that dog could have been standing under a train when it started to move…and guess what would have happened to anything under the wheels……
…….it is very likely that this dog WAS hit by the train. Yes you can have a clean decapitation from a train….and has happened to many suicidal people. That dog was deceased on the track for a couple days…..as seen by the train crew…..before some idiot decided to light it on fire!! There are a lot of people that walk across those tracks.
Headless? Burned? An animal sacrifice. People need to wake up, evil is out there……
Sorry for your loss:)
I truly hope that before more hysteria and conspiricy theories occurs, people realize that animals and humans are frequently killed by trains while moving through cities. Based on the dogs size, it would be rational to recognize the head could easily be taken off by a moving train of thousand of pounds. I am aware of a past case of a person being decapitated after running into the side of a train in Salem Oregon several years ago. It would make sense that someone might think they could just cremate the dog instead of trying to haul it away. Not the best move, but makes sense.
I know it is not as dramatic an explanation as witchcraft or Mexicans but much more plausible.
Wow. What an ignorant statement made by ‘mex.welfare rats go away!!!!’.
Real intelligent.
To the people who hurt and killed that puppy!! I. Will find you!!!! I’m going to treat you like the dirty little scum bag Mexicans you probably are!!! Run , hide!!!!
my dog-heart hurts for Crom’s family. i have no words of comfort. such a beautiful dog!! seems to me that centralia has a very sick and demented person out there. please be safe!!
I know a lot of people don’t believe it, but witchcraft is alive and well in Lewis County. I would not be surprised to find out it was involved in this case too.
I am so sorry for your family’s loss. What happened to Crom is so tragic – and heartbreaking. God be with him.
I AGREE WITH THE ABOVE COMMENTS: S E R I O U S STREET JUSTICE IS IN ORDER ! ! !
I am very sad for the dog, but thank goodness it wasn’t a child. Unfortunately, whomever did this will probably move up to human beings.
I am so very sorry that some sick animal did this to a part of your family. I haven’t lived in Lewis Country for some yrs now. But I can say that if this is the state it is in now I never want to go back. Again My heart goes out to you!
Yes, SERIOUS STREET JUSTICE is in order. This is the behavior of a very sick and disturbed individual. They would never comprehend the slap on the wrist notorious for Lewis County Justice. So sorry for this family, and certainly the children. How do you teach your kids about the inhumanity of “humans” in this context? Just awful~
My heart breaks for Tim, Michelle, & the kids. I hope they find who is responsible. The person(s) who did this are sick and deserve some serious street justice.