Yorkshire terrier found beaten in Miami Beach parking garage

Surveillance video shows man believed to have left dog to die

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Miami Beach police are searching for the person responsible for beating a small Yorkshire terrier and leaving it to die in a parking garage.

A Publix employee found the dog in a parking garage next to the super market.

Photos of the 6-pound dog show her lying motionless on the ground.

The dog, who police named Lily, did not have a tag or microchip.

"She was just lying on her side. She was not moving. She was yelping occasionally, and you could really see something was wrong. She was really hurt, badly," Officer Mariana Garcia said.

Garcia helped get Lily to an animal trauma center.

Veterinarians said the dog had seven broken ribs and signs of strangulation. There was no evidence that she could have been hit by a car.

Veterinarians tried everything to save the little dog, but she died two days later.

"This person just dumped her body and just discarded her," Dr. Joy Carter, of Doral Centre Animal Hospital, said. "(They) didn't want to take the time to end her misery (and) was just going to let her suffer and die there in a trash can."

Surveillance video has helped detectives come up with a person they want to speak to.

Police said video from 10:30 p.m. April 7 shows a red Toyota Yaris pulling in to the Publix parking garage off West Avenue.

"The gentleman in the video is seen removing something from the passenger side and placing it down near the trash can area," Garcia said. "We do believe it's Lily that he removed from his vehicle."

Moments later, cameras show a better view of the man as he took the elevator to the restroom before going back to his car and leaving.

"Someone out there knows what happened to Lily," Garcia said. "Someone knows this dog. Someone is missing this dog. Someone knows this gentleman. Either the dog belonged to him or it was somebody else's dog, but somebody's got to be missing a dog just like Lily."

Anyone with information about Lily or the man in the video is asked to call Miami Beach police or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.