Justice Served to Teens Who Cooked Puppy to Death in Oven
by Mat Thomas, In Defense of Animals

In September of last year, two teenaged brothers from Atlanta, Ga., Joshua and Justin Molder, were accused of aggravated cruelty to animals for cooking a three-month-old puppy to death in the oven of a community center they vandalized and burglarized. The youths, who lived in the Englewood Manor Apartments where the crime took place, allegedly first tried to burn the dog alive after covering her in paint, tying her paws together and wrapping duct tape around her jaw. After failing to set her alight, they removed two shelves from the recreation center's gas range, placed the living puppy inside and turned on the heat. 

The trial commenced in December 2006, with the prosecution presenting over 160 pieces of evidence and bringing more than two dozen witnesses to the stand to testify against the brothers. Five of the witnesses were other teens who stated that the Molders bragged about cooking the puppy and even brought them to the community center to show off the charred body, still hog-tied and gagged in the oven. The young witnesses also stated that the Molders threatened to kill them if they told the police, leading to a felony charge against the brothers of making terroristic threats. 

An animal behavior expert presented photographs of the corpse and, based on forensic evidence, described for jurors how the conscious puppy scratched the oven door to get out, and gasped for breath as she slowly baked to death. Her dead body was found with the pads of her paws bloody from the struggle and her nose melded to the glass from the intense heat. In addition, a veteran police detective who investigated the crime scene spoke about the "horrible stench" permeating the air from the puppy's burned body, stating that it was worse than the smell of dead bodies he had encountered on homicide cases, even those left to decompose for days. The detective was just one of several police officers who testified against the brothers. 

IDA followed this case for several months by sending action alerts to our members, who were instrumental in holding these puppy killers accountable for their crimes. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard received thousands of letters and emails, many of them from IDA supporters who responded to our alerts. "We wanted to send a message to people in our county that we really respected the life of an animal in this case," he told reporters. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore also received many letters and phone calls from animal advocates responding to an IDA alert urging her to punish the Molders accordingly. 

In the end, Joshua and Justin Molder pled guilty to nine felony counts, including aggravated cruelty to animals, burglary and property damage, and each was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Hopefully, this penalty will make the Molder brothers—and other animal abusers—think twice before killing defenseless animals. IDA is grateful to all the animal advocates who spoke up and made a difference in this case.