Dog Ransom Note Comes With Stinky Evidence

Sept. 22, 2005 — -- The owner of a missing dog in Evans, Colo., said he received a ransom note containing a threat to kill his pet if he didn't pay $100 -- and that the note came in a bag of dog excrement.

Kelley Borland said his Jack Russell terrier disappeared from his fenced backyard on Sept. 10.

Borland contacted the police and the Humane Society of Weld County in an effort to find his dog, Jack. He also ran a classified advertisement in the Greeley Tribune newspaper.

When he came home from work Tuesday, he found a plastic bag in front of his house with the note and the dog droppings.

The note said, "Your dog is alive. If you want to keep it that way, put $100 dollars in a yellow envelope and leave it at the skate park behind the ramp that faces east. No later than 10 p.m. on 9/20."

Borland said he didn't have $100 but left a note asking the writer not to kill his dog.

He told the Tribune that the dog excrement looked like it came from his backyard, but he couldn't be sure.

"It looked like my dog's poop," Borland told the newspaper, "but I'm not a dog poop analyst."

Police said they believe the note was written by a juvenile because there's a 10 p.m. juvenile curfew at the skate park. They also believe the person who wrote the note doesn't have the dog, but probably saw the newspaper ad.

ABC News affiliate KMGH-TV in Denver contributed to this report.