Dog Shot To Death – Owner Found Dead In Her Home

Service Dog Shot To Death – Owner Found Dead In Home

Army veteran, Marinna Rollins, 23, was charged with animal cruelty and felony conspiracy on April 24th after local authorities discovered a video on Facebook depicting the woman, along with her boyfriend, Jarren Heng, 25, a one-time cross country runner at the University of Nebraska, laughing and shooting owner Marinna’s service dog, Cumboui, to death with a rifle. Rollins is then shown taking the dog, a gray and white pit bull, to a wooded area and tying him to a tree before administering the shooting. When finished, she dragged the dog’s body and put it in a shallow grave nearby.  A close friend of Rollins’ uploaded video of the shooting to social media, hoping it would get attention and lead to punishment.  The video sent shockwaves nationwide.   

Staff members at Fayetteville Animal Protection Society were among those in shock about the killing of the dog.  The group takes in some pets from the Cumberland County Animal Shelter in order to  avoid overcrowding.  Volunteers told authorities that was where Rollins got her dog in January 2016.  Rollins’ estranged husband, Matt Dyer, a Fort Bragg soldier, adopted the pitbull and named “Huey” before he was deployed to Korea for a year. Dyer said that, although he and Rollins were separated, she told him she would care for Huey during his deployment. He felt good making Rollins Huey’s new owner. “I felt like her having to take care of Huey would be good for her and would be good for Huey,” Dyer said.

Dyer then got Huey certified as an emotional support dog to help his new owner with her post-traumatic stress disorder.  Rollins took it upon herself to change the dog’s name to “Cambouis”, later tweaking it to “Cumboui”.  She is heard on the video saying, “It’s been real, Cammy, I love you. You’re my puppy. You’re a good puppy” before the couple shot him five times.  In the last video clip, the woman goes over to her dead dog, picks him up, shoves him over, says “I love you, you’re a good dog” and then covers him with a sheet.

When investigators initially received a report from Cumberland County Animal Control, stating there was a case of animal cruelty on April 19 in Fayetteville, they obtained the video and made contact with Rollins.  The woman insisted she didn’t know where her dog was, but when confronted with the taped evidence she agreed to cooperate.  Prior to the incident, Rollins had nearly a squeaky clean criminal record in Maine with just one minor violation that was dismissed in exchange for community service.  She was medically retired from the military.  

Investigators said both Rollins and Heng were being held on $25,000 bond.  Heng is still behind bars on his portion.  A court house protest in response to Rollins’ suicide has reportedly been scheduled.  Friends hope her actions will lead to additional help for those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and related post-war mental health issues. “This is a tragic case and we are going to do everything to seek justice in this case,” said Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West.

Sources:

Fort Bragg soldier accused of shooting dog 5 times

Fayetteville veteran accused of killing service dog found dead in home