Linn Grove man charged after dog found dead near Rembrandt
A passerby spotted a puppy with its head out of a garbage bag near Rembrandt, and one of three dogs later died of starvation.
A garbage bag in a ditch southwest of Rembrandt led Buena Vista County investigators to a cruelty case now centered on Exavier Ford, a 35-year-old Linn Grove man charged after one of three dogs was found dead and two others were left malnourished.
Ford was booked into the Buena Vista County Jail on two counts of abandonment of dogs causing serious injury and one count of abandonment of dogs causing death. The sheriff’s affidavit says the animals were allegedly dumped in early February near 110th Avenue and 500th Street, in a ditch between 1021 and 1099 500th St. just off a gravel road outside Rembrandt.
The case began Feb. 5, when a passerby driving by saw one puppy with her head out of a garbage bag and called the Buena Vista County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies found three dogs at the scene, including two surviving females now identified by People for Pets in Spencer as Eleanor and Mathilda. The shelter named the dead male Marcus and said he died from starvation.
People for Pets staff said Eleanor and Mathilda were so badly underfed that they needed six small feedings a day at first, then four feedings a day as they slowly recovered. Shelter director Jenna Schroer said the dogs were heartbreakingly close to the same fate as Marcus, and sheriff Kory Elston said the case remained an active investigation.
Investigators say Ford was interviewed earlier in April and allegedly admitted he owned the dogs and had given up responsibility for them by abandoning them. He later posted a $2,000 bond and had an initial court appearance scheduled for Wednesday morning in magistrate court.
The case is not Buena Vista County’s first serious animal-abandonment prosecution. In 2024, Buena Vista County district court Judge Andy Smith convicted Emmetsburg resident Guy Johns of eight misdemeanors after finding he had abandoned and neglected 11 pit bulls in Alta, with one dog dead and two others injured. That earlier case showed local courts have treated severe animal neglect as a criminal matter when animals are left to suffer and die.
Residents who spot abuse or abandonment can contact People for Pets in Spencer at 712-580-2738 or the Buena Vista County Sheriff’s Office at 712-749-2530.
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