A man accused of killing his girlfriend’s small dog with a bow and arrows pleaded not guilty Monday in a Jefferson County courtroom.
Zackary Scott Ruszka, 20, who faces an aggravated animal cruelty charge, is scheduled for trial July 7, said Pam Russell, spokeswoman with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.
In December, Arvada police were called to a home in the 6900 block of Otis Street on reports that the house had been ransacked and a dog killed.
The man making the report, according to court records, was Alex Duran, 21. Duran lived at the home with Ruszka; Ruszka’s girlfriend, Regina Libeu; and Libeu’s parents, Jeanette and Dave Pranzo.
The Pranzos and their daughter had gone to California on a family emergency, leaving the home in the care of Ruszka and Duran.
Arvada officer Kristin Harris said Duran told her Ruszka had been drinking large amounts of whiskey during the day and Duran left to visit a friend.
When he returned, he noticed blood in the garage and saw Blaze, a small black terrier, dead with two or three arrows in its body.
After seeing the dog and noticing that the house had been ransacked, Duran called police to report a burglary.
Inside the home, police found that someone had “destroyed” the living room, Harris said. The furniture had been smashed. A guitar and door also were destroyed, she said.
