Update: St. Pete Police say the dog is named Beloved and belonged to a mentally disabled couple, Samuel Orsini and Gina Glass. Orsini was walking the dog a couple of days ago when it got loose. Beloved ran across 4th street and was hit by a white vehicle. Orsini carried the dog back to the apartment.
The distraught couple contacted the SPCA. They realized that the dog was dead and were told that it would cost $55.00 for the SPCA to take custody of the dead animal.
They attempted to bury the dog on the property of the apartment complex. The landlord refused and told them to place the dead dog in a dumpster. They refused and decided to submerge the dog in the “lake”. They explained this was Beloved favorite’s spot.
Gina Glass placed the dog in garbage bags and then in a blue suitcase. They had found the blue suitcase in a dumpster of their apartment complex. Gina partially filled the suitcase with water in an attempt to submerge the dead animal.
Police are awaiting the results of the SPCA necropsy to confirm this information.
–End Update–
Deputies with the St. Petersburg Police Department were called out Lotta Boat Rentals at 100 14th Avenue South, where an employee of the business reported finding a blue hard shell suitcase floating in the canal near the dock.
After retrieving the suitcase, the employee opened it to find a deceased female Pit bull inside. The dog, which was black and gray in color, weighing about 30 to 35, had obvious trauma to the head and lower body.
A name written on the suitcase led officers to the address of a St. Petersburg woman who told them that she had discarded it in a community dumpster about 6 months earlier. She had no knowledge of the dog or who might have retrieved the suitcase from the dumpster and is not considered a suspect in the case.
The SPCA took custody of dog and suitcase for further investigation.
