1 hour ago
3
A dog who was abandoned and then rescued from Texas’ “Corridor of Cruelty” as a puppy was returned to a Houston-area shelter after his owner was tragically gunned down in a disastrous case of mistaken identity on Christmas Day.
Desmond Butler, 25, found a match made in heaven when he adopted Desmond the dog in December 2024.
The 2-year-old pup, a Shepherd mix, was ditched in Houston’s “Corridor of Cruelty,” where unwanted dogs are frequently left to die, and was waiting for his forever home at the shelter for seven months.
In that time, the adorable pooch watched his sister, Eleanor, leave with a happy family.
When Butler came along to Corridor Rescue around the holidays, the shelter never expected to see either of them ever again.
Then, in January 2026, Desmond the dog was checked back into the shelter.
Butler, a local Amazon manager, had been gunned down outside of a Shell gas station on Christmas Day, police said.
He was allegedly shot and killed by an irate father who mistook him for his daughter’s sleazy boyfriend.
The Houston Police Department said that the suspected gunman, 39-year-old Jonathan Ross Mata, and his wife chased down Butler’s car, believing that their daughter had been assaulted and was trapped in the vehicle.
The parents started wailing on Butler’s car and attempted to open the back passenger’s side door.
While Butler was trying to speed away, Mata allegedly opened fire. Butler careened off the road and crashed into a pole in an adjacent parking lot, police said.
Butler’s female passenger, whom the parents also mistook for their daughter, rushed out of the mangled car and confronted the couple chasing them.
Mata explained he was looking for his “kidnapped” daughter, apologized and said he would call 911, according to court documents obtained by KHOU 11.
Butler, though, had been shot during the chase and sustained during the crash. He was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the police department.
Mata turned himself in at the Houston Police Department on Jan. 14 and was charged with Butler’s murder.
Butler’s grieving family had no idea what to do with Desmond the dog, whose name alone served as a painful reminder of their loss.
So, the dog was left with Butler’s roommate, whose only options “were to put Desmond on the street, or try a shelter,” Corridor Rescue Director Dawn Venditelli told Fox 26.
“Poor dog was dumped, not wanted, found a good home and here he is almost being dumped again, not from any fault of his,” Venditelli said.
The pup is in desperate need of “a second chance,” according to his adoption listing.
Having spent a third of his life in the shelter, the shelter warned that Desmond still requires “a bit more time to meet strangers,” but has no problems with other dogs.
“Desmond is full of love and energy and is hoping to find the right person to give him another chance at a loving home,” the shelter wrote.
Corridor Rescue is situated right along the 14-square-mile “Corridor of Cruelty,” where many “homeless, ill, and injured dogs” wander every day, according to its website.
Twenty-four other dogs are available for adoption. The oldest is a 9-year-old Terrier and Pit Bull mix named Davis, who originally couldn’t walk when he was first rescued six years ago, according to his adoption posting.
English (US)