{"id":58718,"date":"2025-05-13T13:52:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T13:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=58718"},"modified":"2025-05-13T13:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T13:52:05","slug":"their-moms-bo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=58718","title":{"rendered":"Their Mom\u2019s Bo."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A woman\u2019s children heard her boyfriend allegedly beat a puppy to death at their Ohio home on May 5
The boyfriend, Jimmy Wiggins Jr., fled the scene, but cops soon discovered him clinging to a tree branch in a nearby river, and a bloody hammer was found at the scene \u2014 but the puppy\u2019s body was never recovered
Wiggins and his girlfriend, Gretchen Howard, were both booked into jail on May 7 and face several charges, including two counts each of endangering children<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his girlfriend\u2019s children allegedly heard him brutally murder a puppy, a man fled to a nearby river to hide from authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident, which Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth described as \u201csickening,\u201d occurred at a home in Milan Township, Ohio, on May 5, according to CBS affiliate Cleveland 19 News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deputies arrived at the home after a 911 call reported hearing a man kill a puppy, triggering an \u201conslaught of screaming from family members as a result,\u201d the Erie County Sheriff\u2019s Office (ECSO) told the outlet. The deputies quickly discovered an \u201cextremely distraught\u201d girl outside of the home, and she told them that her mom\u2019s live-in boyfriend had killed a puppy and fled, police alleged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girl and a second child told police that the boyfriend, Jimmy Wiggins Jr., threatened to choke the puppy, whom the outlet identified as Hank, just before he allegedly bludgeoned him to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat one of the children described was Jimmy threatening to strangle Hank, and then he heard Hank screaming like a puppy would scream, and they heard an impact,\u201d Sigsworth told Cleveland 19 News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The children claimed to have seen Hank dead inside the bathroom, but the puppy\u2019s body was gone by the time they arrived, the ECSO told the outlet. Wiggins, 46, was also gone, allegedly leaving behind just a bloody hammer and a bottle of peroxide, which the kids said he used to wash his hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the children\u2019s mother, 42-year-old Gretchen Howard, was at the home, which the ECSO said was \u201cin complete disarray, smelled strongly of animal feces\/urine and was basically uninhabitable due to the deplorable conditions,\u201d per Cleveland 19 News. Howard spoke with officers but was unintelligible, police said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While searching the surrounding area for Wiggins, deputies found footprints, which they followed to the river behind the home. There, they then heard sticks breaking and a splash, the ECSO said. With the help of additional first responders and a drone, deputies were able to locate Wiggins, who was partially submerged in the water and holding on to a tree branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was subsequently taken into custody, along with Howard \u2014 who, just hours earlier, was allegedly found in possession of a crystallized substance during a traffic stop, Cleveland 19 News reported. Wiggins was with her during the stop, and was driving without a license, per the outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During a sweep of the home, deputies also found \u201can influx of narcotics, most notably methamphetamine and\/or paraphernalia\/instruments in plain view,\u201d per the ECSO. After Wiggins was found, all of the items were seized as evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Erie County Sheriff\u2019s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE\u2019s request for comment on Saturday, May 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiggins and Howard were both booked into jail on May 7, and their bonds were set at $50,000 and $20,000, respectively, according to jail records viewed by PEOPLE. It was not immediately clear if they have retained legal representation to comment on their behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiggins was charged with two counts of endangering children, and one count each of tampering with evidence, cruelty to animals and obstructing official business. Howard also faces two charges of endangering children, and one count of obstructing official business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are both set to appear in court later this month \u2014 Howard on May 12 and Wiggins on May 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard\u2019s two children are in the permanent custody of Erie County Job and Family Services, the ECSO told Cleveland 19 News. Another puppy, Mud, who was recovered at the scene, was relocated to another home, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman\u2019s children heard her boyfriend allegedly beat a puppy to death at their Ohio home on May 5The boyfriend, Jimmy Wiggins Jr., fled the scene, but… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58720,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58718\/revisions\/58720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}