A pet rescue worker, Elizabeth Rose, “Libby” Osterbauer, has been charged with cruelty to animals and burglary after she allegedly took and killed the dog of a woman, Shelly Byzewski, who didn’t return Osterbauer’s romantic feelings.
The complaint accuses Osterbauer of breaking into Byzewski’s home two times- Dec. 10, 2015 and June 6, 2016. The incidents occurred in Minneapolis.
Elizabeth Rose Osterbauer / police handout
A witness told police that Osterbauer entered the home using a hidden key and stole the dog, a miniature pinscher named Ducky Momo. The witness said “she was present with Osterbauer during the killing of the dog.” She said the dog was “tortured, drugged, and killed.”
Another witness told police she was also present and watched as Osterbauer “took the dog to a wildlife refuge and killed it by stomping on it before drowning it in a marsh.”
Bzyewski said she met Osterbauer at a dog rescue agency where she (Osterbauer) worked. That is when the alleged stalking of Bzyewski began. “She just got obsessed with me.” “She’s crazy.” “She’s mental,” says the victim.
I told her I was never going to feel the same way,” Byzewski told the Star Tribune. “She’d say, ‘That’s OK. That’s OK.”
A witness stated that he and other friends were offered $1,000 “to do a job” by the accused but refused.
In the second break-in, cat litter was dumped into the toilet leaving a path of cat litter in the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and down stairs leading into a living room.
Osterbauer was ordered held in lieu of $200,000 bail. According to court records, she had been convicted of a misdemeanor in 2015 for having multiple dogs at large in Shelbourne County.
Osterbauer, who runs Close to Home Canine Rescue, according to the Star Tribune, was charged with multiple counts of burglary and cruelty to animals.
Ducky Momo was three years old at the time of her grisly and brutal death.
Always check out animal rescues. Ask for references and ask others who have dealt with them. You can also check online. Not all rescues or its people can be trusted.
This woman is nuts! Murdering the woman’s dog is insane. How can she be in this line of work? I hope she gets serious jail time. Total whack job.
She won’t be in this line of work anymore. 🙂
That poor dog paid a gruesome cost because of that piece of crap. Let her rot in hell!!!!!!!!!
An eye for an eye.
Oh my God. This a tragic story. If the animal rescue employee loved animals, there’s no way she could kill the woman’s dog. A woman to whom she proclaimed she was interested in her. This is a psycho. Killing a pet without trepidation shows the deep psychological issues she has. She should never be allowed to have a pet or be afforded the opportunity to work with or around animals. I feel so badly for the dog’s owner. RIP Ducky Momo. :'(
Osterbauer helped to look for the dogs with the owner. She helped to put up posters and encouraged her to keep doing it. This sicko is deranged to do any of this. She should never be allowed to work around animals, have a pet or be around animals again. If she can do this in the manner she did, she’ll stop at nothing next time. Put her away.
I heard she killed two of her dogs.