Indiana Suspect Held In Jail For Allegedly Hanging, Stabbing Rescue Dog Now Accused Of Murdering Man: Cops

An Indiana man accused of hanging and stabbing a rescue dog last August is now charged in connection with the murder of a man a month before the incident, authorities said.

On Aug. 6, police in Indianapolis responded to a residence around 3 p.m. and found Deron, a pit bull terrier Zech Hilton Thomsen, 19, and 20-year-old Sierra Lynne Makin adopted from the Indianapolis Animal Care Services just over a week earlier, hanged and stabbed to death, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report obtained by WXIN.

Police claimed in the report that after discovering the “torturing and killing” of the 2-year-old dog, both Thomsen and Makin resisted arrest.

Thomsen and Makin were each charged with torturing or mutilating a vertebrate animal, animal abandonment/neglect, resisting law enforcement, and battery of a public safety official, police said.

On Dec. 28, Thomsen, who was being held at the Marion County jail since his arrest, was also charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Vincent Clifton Jr., 38, on July 13, jail records show, WRTV reported.

Thomsen was being held without bond on the new murder rap.

According to WRTV, in June 2021, Thomsen was charged with criminal confinement, domestic battery, strangulation and resisting law enforcement. He pleaded guilty to the resisting count and authorities dismissed the other three charges against him.

He served under a year on probation in the case.