Tabatha Guasp said she has more questions than answers involving the recent death of her dog – a death that occurred in St. Rose.
On Christmas day Guasp let her dog Dexter out in her Kenner backyard – a backyard that was new to everyone since the family had recently moved in.
“I put him outside to burn off some energy,” she said. “When I went to get him I couldn’t find him, but he’s a hider so I just thought he was hiding somewhere. I couldn’t figure out a way he could have gotten out.”
Guasp said she and family members walked around the neighborhood, but Dexter was not found. When she was home again Guasp said her godchild found a hole in the fence where Dexter must have crawled out of.
On Dec. 26 Guasp went to work and received a call that still haunts her.
“It was so hard for me to go to work, but my husband and family took to foot that day to look for him,” she said. “I got a call around 9 a.m. from the Luling animal shelter. She asked me if I was missing Dexter and told me he was struck by a vehicle and didn’t make it.”
Guasp said while she is thankful that someone found Dexter and brought him in to the shelter so that she could be notified, she and her family are baffled on how Dexter – a 13-year-old deaf dog with arthritis, bad eye sight and only one eye – was found 17 miles from his home.
“I’m thinking someone possibly picked him up and took him home and maybe he got out their yard,” she said. “I am just trying to figure out what happened to my boy. I’m just trying to get closure. I’m devastated that my baby died alone and in the cold.”
Guasp said she and her family are distraught.
“As soon as I saw his face I just absolutely fell in love with him,” she remembers of first seeing the post about Dexter’s need for adoption. “I knew he was meant to be in our family. He was just such a sweet, little old man … a ball of energy. I just knew he should be mine. He was my buddy. He followed me around … he was just my little shadow. I just feel broken without him.”
Guasp said she is blaming herself for Dexter’s disappearance.
“I’m beating myself up. He wasn’t wearing his collar because he had a bad cough from his collapsed trachea,” she said. “I regret that immensely. My assumption is somebody picked him up and either dumped him or somebody picked him up and maybe he escaped their backyard. I’ve ran through so many scenarios. I don’t understand how anyone could hit an animal and just leave. My fear is that someone did it on purpose, but my hope is that they didn’t.”
Guasp said she has been contacted by people who say they saw Dexter roaming in St. Rose.
“He wasn’t just a dog … he was our family,” she said. “I would like some type of justice.”
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