May 4, 2005

Happy life ends tragically

Rest in peace, Jackson

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Jackson was a small, but gorgeous little dog living the life of Riley on Iris Court until someone decided he barked too much.

The 4-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel died April 17, the victim of meat tainted with anti-freeze, a lethal meal provided by someone who obviously doesn’t like dogs.

This flyer has been passed around the neighborhood announcing a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who poisoned Jackson. The reward, which was started soon after owner Holly Kollenborn held a wake for her 4-year old dog, had grown to nearly $3,000 by the end of April.

Jackson could be the second victim on Iris Court. Several years ago, a cat living on the same side of the street as Jackson was found poisoned. Both pet owners had received threatening letters. Another couple, Lou and Heather Hoffman, also received threatening letters but so far their animals are OK.

Iris Court is a quiet, sleepy street full of neighbors who all know each other along with many of their neighbors on Nevada. The two streets typically get together for block parties and there are at least four of those each year. They also help each other out, looking after each other’s children and pets, helping each other when it is necessary.

So it was quite a surprise when Jackson was poisoned. Owner Holly Kollenborn, who had raised the little brown and white dog from a puppy for the past four years, received two threatening letters about 18 months apart, starting three years ago.

Too much barking
The first note came after Kollenborn had left Jackson overnight. A neighbor had come in to feed the dog. Ironically, the same neighbor noted to both Kollenborn and Mary Schorr, who also lives on the street, that he “must be deaf, because I never heard Jackson bark at all.” That note said, “The dog barked. If you don’t do something about it, I will.”

“I felt really bad. I thought I should be more careful, but I asked the neighbors and they said they hadn’t heard anything,” she said. “He did have a high pitched bark. I could see it getting under someone’s skin. But why didn’t they just talk to me about it, I would have made sure it didn’t happen again.”

About a year and a half later, Kollenborn came home from a wedding. This time her sister and brother-in-law were taking care of Jackson. They had found another note tacked on the gate at the end of her driveway. This one said, “The dog is barking again. Make it stop or I will kill it.”

“It was tacked to the back gate. Someone had to walk all the way down the driveway, which would have triggered the motion [sensor] light, but no one saw anyone,” she said.

Kollenborn filed a police report after the second note. She also e-mailed her neighbors and went door to door. “If the neighbors had heard him barking, I would have put him in the house,” she said. The door leading to her back yard has a dog door. Jackson used the door to go out and do his business and then come back into the house. That’s how he found the tainted food.

Kollenborn came home late the night Jackson was poisoned. “I got home around 11 [p.m.], opened up the gate and saw the canned food in a Ziploc bag. The bag was open and there were large chunks of meat in it. Jackson had obviously eaten some of it. He’d also thrown up all over his pillow. But he was acting his normal, happy self. We came into the house and he took his toys from his basket and began laying with them.”

Something felt wrong
She thought something was strange and called the police. But together they decided to wait until morning. However, she locked the back door and Jackson’s dog door.

He got sick about every three hours, she said. He kept drinking and them he’d throw up. And she began to get more and more worried. He also seemed like he’d been given a muscle relaxant. At about 6 a.m. she called her vet who recommended taking him to the emergency vet. The vet convinced her to go on to work thinking someone had laced the meat with a muscle relaxant.

“But then she added that the worst case would be antifreeze.”

A couple of hours later, her sister called and said it was antifreeze. “There was so much of it in his blood, that they had to dilute the sample,” Kollenborn said. They also put Jackson on an antidote and then took him to a specialist in Capitola. The specialist thought he should be driven to Davis for dialysis, but worried that the trip would be too much for the sick dog, Kollenborn declined the trip. An hour later, Jackson had a grand mal seizure.

Hours later, Kollenborn decided to put Jackson to sleep so he would no longer be in pain.

Investigation
Meanwhile, the police went door to door interviewing residents on Iris Court and at the condos behind Kollenborn’s home. If the police have a suspect, they aren’t talking about it.

“This is still an open case,” said Enrique Garcia from the San Jose Police Department, which does not comment on open cases. He did note, however, that SJPD had canvassed the neighborhood and interviewed people and witnesses.

Jackson when he was a puppy used to sleep in this little bag. He often accompanied owner Holly Kollenborn on errands and other shopping expeditions and even to work occasionally.

Others in the neighborhood believe the police may know who did the crime but are waiting to arrest the person.

Kollenborn put up money for a reward for information leading to an arrest and the conviction of the person who murdered Jackson. It was started, soon after Jackson’s death, at $1,000 but by the end of April had grown to nearly $3,000. She’s been getting phone calls and e-mails from people expressing sympathy. And, people have been mailing money toward the reward.

People have been so nice, she added. A breeder from Burlingame offered Kollenborn a King Charles Cavalier spaniel puppy.

“There has been some good in this,” Kollenborn said. “There are so many good things that have happened. Knowing that all my neighbors support me and the police detectives have been so nice. There’s lots of caring people. There’s more good than bad.”

Neighbors worry
In the meantime, residents on Iris Court are nervous. Pets are only out with leases and owners, and children too are being monitored. While the neighbors aren’t keeping their kids inside, most kids are busy with school and homework, the parents are making sure that the children play in groups and toddlers are not being allowed out without someone watching.

Several weeks before the incident with Jackson, a young female child went outside to pick up the mail. She was outside for less than two minutes when a man exposed himself to her. The child’s brother saw it happen. The police were called and came out immediately, but the man hasn’t been found.

“We hope the situation about Jackson will be resolved by May 17,” said Mary Schorr. That night, the neighborhood plans to meet at 7 p.m. at 1434 Iris Court. Schorr said all residents on Iris Court and Nevada Avenue are invited. “At the very least, this person must have some anger management problems.”

She and several other neighbors agreed the person committing this crime must be very sick. “To me it’s a very sick thing to kill an animal,” she said. “It’s also cowardly the way they went about it. If there was a toddler around, the child might pick up and eat the tainted food.”

“There are much better ways to stop a dog from bothering you than to poison someone’s pet,” added Doug Artman, who lives on Iris Court near Minnesota. “I can certainly understand if people are unhappy about pets that bother them, but this person went to an extreme.”

The meeting is typical of the neighborhood. “It fits into the way we manage our neighborhood,” said Schorr. “We’re pro-active, we communicate and talk with each other. We are typical of the Willow Glen tradition. We foster ways to communicate and be together with block parties and progressive dinners. “

“People view this street as a little sanctuary. I guess we have to be more careful now,” concludes Artman.