Tiny dog's death pits neighbor against neighbor

RALEIGH -- By all accounts, Betty Richardson's Chihuahua, Noah, was a well-loved -- some would say spoiled -- little dog.

Richardson's mother stayed with Noah each afternoon, so he would not get lonely while Richardson worked. The 5-pound dog had a Coach-brand collar, an N.C. State jacket for cool days and a raincoat for wet ones. He had pajamas, too, though Richardson said he rarely wore them.

Noah died Aug. 30, just two months after celebrating his 12th birthday.

Richardson says Noah perished under the thumb of a man who lives a few doors from her home. The neighbor, David Lance Upchurch, acknowledges holding the dog down, but says he did so only after Noah, who was unleashed, viciously attacked him. He says he did not apply enough pressure to kill Noah, and he points to studies that show tracheal collapse is a common medical condition among Chihuahuas.

Police on Friday charged Upchurch, 37, of 1028 Cookwood Court, with cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor. Upchurch, who works in The News & Observer's information services department, posted a $500 bond.

The incident has created tension in the Raleigh neighborhood where Richardson and Upchurch live. Upchurch has even filed a restraining order against another neighbor he says threatened to shoot him over Noah's death.

Inside her family room, Richardson has fashioned a shrine to Noah. Under a photo of the dog staring into the camera, she wrote, "My sweet boy Noah ... R.I.P." His paw print is embedded in clay, and sympathy cards line a shelf. His ashes are kept in a velvet bag with gold lettering that reads, "Until We Meet Again At The Rainbow Bridge."

On the day Noah died, Richardson said, she, her mother and the dog were on their front lawn at 1008 Cookwood when Upchurch walked up the cul-de-sac with Sasha, his black Labrador retriever. Noah ran to sniff Sasha, and the dogs growled at one another.

Richardson said that as she reached to pick up Noah, Upchurch grabbed the dog, flipped him on his back and held him down while squeezing him between his breastbone and neck with a thumb and forefinger.

"I told him, 'Don't do that,' " Richardson said. "He told me, 'No. This is what would happen if another dog wanted to kill your dog.' "

Richardson said she scooped Noah up and took him inside. About five minutes later, she said, the dog's eyes were rolling toward the back of his head, and his tongue was lolling out of his mouth.

Richardson rushed him to Knightdale Animal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy was performed at Rollins Diagnostic Laboratory in Raleigh.

Claim of self-defense

Upchurch, who owns two Labs -- Sasha and Tyson, a golden --described the incident as self-defense against a Chihuahua attack. "Noah can still bite," he replied when asked how threatened he felt by a dog that weighed about as much as a bag of sugar.

"Noah came out and attacked by growling, snarling with his teeth showing," Upchurch said. "I've been around dogs enough to know there was an attack."

Richardson was on the phone and too far away to stop "the aggressive biting behavior," Upchurch said, adding that Sasha, who weighs about 100 pounds, stood behind him out of fear.

Only after seeing there wasn't going to be any letup in Noah's behavior, Upchurch said, did he grab the Chihuahua, turn it on its side and hold it until Richardson arrived.

"When she got there I released Noah into her custody," Upchurch said. "Betty told me he shouldn't have been outside and that she knows he's so spoiled."

Richardson and Noah went inside, Upchurch said, and he continued walking Sasha. Two hours later, police showed up at his home and told him Noah had died.

"I was completely shocked," Upchurch said.

Neighborhood conflict

Noah's death is just the latest case to stir the neighborhood. Last summer, Upchurch sued his next-door neighbor, Ronald Jenkins, 60, of 1032 Cookwood Court, for injury to real property after accusing Jenkins of using improper irrigation techniques that burned Upchurch's grass.

A Wake County judge dismissed the case, attributing the dried grass to the drought, court records show.

Upchurch now has a concrete gargoyle on his front porch that faces Jenkins' home. He said the gargoyle is a Christian symbol used to ward off evil spirits. "[Jenkins] is an evil spirit," he said.

After Noah died, Upchurch said, Jenkins went door to door claiming that Noah had been kicked, choked and thrown to the ground. Upchurch filed a restraining order against Jenkins, saying at least three neighbors told him that Jenkins threatened to shoot him, according to the order.

Jenkins denied saying he was going to shoot Upchurch.

"A bunch of us were in the street wondering how could he kill this harmless little dog," Jenkins said. "I said, 'He needs to be in jail.' That's it."

Richardson, meanwhile, is setting up a scholarship in Noah's memory.

"Noah's Bark" will pay up to $100 each year for textbooks for a student attending veterinary school in North Carolina.