Police: Voices, Urge to Kill Prompts Afghan War Vet to Strangle Dogs

A Ft. Carson, Colo., soldier was arrested on charges of severe animal cruelty after reportedly claiming he killed his pet rat terrier and a stray dog by strangling them to death.

Specialist Brian Christopher Jones, 28, allegedly told authorities that voices from his basement led him to kill the animals in order to curb his homicidal impulses.

Jones allegedly admitted to police that strangling the dogs temporarily alleviated his urge to kill, according to his arrest affidavit.

"It's extremely disturbing, not only from the animal point of view but potential danger to humans," said Joe Stafford, the local director of Animal Law Enforcement for the Humane Society in an interview with Fox21 News.

Jones however, later recanted his confession saying the incidents never took place and he had only imagined killing the dogs, adding that after he was placed on a regimen of medicines to treat his PTSD, schizophrenia, and bipolar tendencies, he remembered that his pet rat terrier had run away and he never killed a stray dog at all.

The revelation did not however, prevent Humane Society officials from seizing Jones' other pet; a pitbull mix.

Fort Carson officials said that Jones served in Afghanistan and is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team.

This incident further underscores the need for all soldiers returning from tours of combat to be properly evaluated in order for them to receive whatever mental health care they may require.

There are an estimated 171,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who suffer from PTSD and other combat-related mental illnesses.