CONVICTED (2006) | US Airforce serviceman Dustin Matthew Yandell, born 13 October 1984, at the time of offence of Mill Reef Close, Newmarket, Suffolk, and as at November 2019 of Edison in Georgia, USA – ripped his golden retriever’s throat apart with a military knife
Yandell, from RAF Lakenheath, put his golden retriever, Goldie, in the bathtub before slitting her throat from one side to the other, causing the animal to suffer “severe pain and distress” in the moments leading up to her death.
RSPCA Chief Inspector Mark Thompson said it was one of the worst cases of animal abuse he had ever seen.
“This was a very, very serious act of premeditated, wanton cruelty,” he said.
“Mr Yandell knew what he was going to do. He took the dog upstairs on a lead, put it into the bath, sat with it for a moment and then slashed its throat.
“The animal’s suffering would have been untold in the few minutes while it was dying.”
Yandell, who served in the Iraq war as a combat medic, initially denied the offence, but later admitted killing the animal at his home in Mill Reef Close, Newmarket, in March 2005.
He said in a police interview: “I do not know what was going through my mind at the time. I put the knife in the dog’s throat, and it went from right to left.
“The next thing I remember was cleaning the bath and putting the dog in the trash bin.”
The bin containing the golden retriever was found by a Forest Heath District Council refuse collector, who was left “extremely upset and distressed” by the gruesome discovery.
Yandell admitted the killing could possibly have been carried out to get back at his wife, who had called him from America to say she would not be returning home and that he would not see their son again.
Defence solicitor, Jeremy Kendall, told the court Yandell had suffered a number of traumas, including the stillbirth of his second child in April last year.
“This was a one-off offence,” he said. “He is still a very young man who has out-of-the-blue committed this savage act.”
Mr Kendall said Yandell would undoubtedly be discharged from the USAF as a result of his conviction.
Chairman of the bench, Colin Reeve, said: “We are dealing with one very serious matter of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
“We consider this matter is so serious that no other sentencing is appropriate.”
Sentencing: 18 weeks in prison. Banned from keeping animals for life.
Update 2007
In January 2007 Yandell was discharged from the US Airforce. Originally from Clinton, Maryland, USA, he is currently living in Edison in Georgia and, according to his Facebook profile, is employed as a technician with Southern Plastics. He appears to have at least one dog.