EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEVV) — An Evansville man was arrested after being accused of trying to poison his neighbor's dog.
In May of 2023, police say they were called to a home on Blackford Avenue to take a report from a pet owner.
A woman called 911 to report her neighbor, Matthew Shaw, had tried to poison her dog.
According to EPD, the woman told officers she was inside her home when she saw Shaw reach over her fence and drop something behind her dog's kennel. She told police that at the time, she thought Shaw was giving her dog a treat and didn't think anything of it.
Later, the woman told police she went to check on her dog and see what Shaw had dropped. She said that's when she found a peanut butter sandwich with poison green pellets inside used to kill rodents. She said that's when she called 911.
According to EPD, the woman had the contents of the sandwich and the dog's blood tested. Results showed the dog's blood and the sandwich both tested positive for the same compound.
The doctor's interpretation stated, “Analysis of two blood samples and bait/or anticoagulant rodenticides (dicoumarol, diphacinone, pival, warfarin, chlorophacinone, bromadiolone, and brodifacoum) revealed the presence of diphacinone, an extremely toxic compound. The rodenticide persists in the body for more than few weeks.”
Officers said they tried to make contact with Shaw on the day of the incident, but that they were unsuccessful. An affidavit says they tried to go back to Shaw's home again in April of 2025 to speak with him, but were unsuccessful again.
Police say they completed their paperwork, and that a warrant was requested for Shaw due to him intentionally “placing poison in a sandwich and then placing the sandwich where the dogs could ingest it.”
After the warrant was filed, Shaw was arrested and booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail on Tuesday morning. He is being held on a $1,000 bond.
