(NECN: Alysha Palumbo, Quincy, Mass.) - You could see the sadness in her sunken eyes, the pain in her posture, and the obvious wounds to her ever weakening body.
"Puppy Doe" as she came to be known was a young adult female pit bull found in August - starved, beaten, and abandoned near this park on Whitwell Street in Quincy.
Her injuries were so severe she couldn’t walk and had to be put down.
"We took the matter very, very seriously, it was of grave concern to us that our detectives have pretty much been working around the clock with the DA’s office," Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan said.
Monday, police announced the arrest of 32-year-old Radoslaw Czerkawski, a man originally from Poland who had been a caregiver to a woman on Whitwell Street near where "Puppy Doe" was found.
He was arrested in a hotel in New Britain, Conn. last Wednesday after detectives followed up on a tip in the highly publicized animal abuse case.
"They kept their word that they were going to get him," said dog owner Colleen Sullivan, who says she gave police that tip.
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Sullivan says she started putting the pieces together while police were canvassing the neighborhood. She says she had a bad feeling about Czerkawski back in April and even brought her concerns to relatives of the woman he was caring for…but she says she never knew he had a dog.
"I pray that yes he pays the price for what he did but I hope that somewhere along the line he honestly gets some mental help from the professionals because it’s a very sad and sick thing that he did," Sullivan said.
Residents who rallied around the case were relieved a suspect has been caught.
Quincy dog owner Dan Richloff said, "The person that gave the tip, they should be lauded as a hero," Quincy dog owner Dan Richloff said.
Another dog owner Katie McCall said, "It was terrible, I mean I couldn’t even imagine what the dog went through."
"To do that to an animal is horrible and if you can do that to an animal I mean there’s no telling what else you can do so I really think it’s good that he’s been caught," neighbor Joann Hanlon said.
Czerkawski did not fight rendition from Connecticut to Massachusetts. He is expected to be arraigned on 11 charges of cruelty to animals and one charge of misleading a police investigation. The animal cruelty charges are felonies that carry up to five years in prison if convicted.
