A California woman was able to wrangle a frenzied dog that was running around her neighborhood for weeks – and the pooch led her to a shocking discovery.
Catherine DeFazio had seen online warnings about a German shepherd that had been appearing unleashed around her Sacramento neighborhood.
One day, DeFazio finally spotted the dog right on her front porch before it began to run into the street.
‘I'm like, ‘No, don't go to the street. Don't,' she said. ‘And he went right there in the bushes about three feet from the walkway,' she said.
What the dog led DeFazio to next was a heartbreaker. He showed her to what appeared to be a corpse.
A California woman was able to wrangle a frenzied dog that was running around her neighborhood for weeks – and the pooch led her to a shocking discovery
The dog is seen in an image roaming around the local area in Sacramento
‘He made this yelp, and he just, like, looked me like that in my eyes, like this, like. And I looked over, and I'm like, there's no way there's a dead body,' she told KCRA.
There is currently a backpack, some tarp and other debris located around where the body was discovered.
‘So I walked here and there he was,' DeFazio continued. ‘When you're out there lonely and or you're by yourself, an animal's everything to you.'
DeFazio – who said she's seen the dead bodies of homeless people turn up in the neighborhood in recent years – immediately contacted the police, who in turn brought a coroner to the scene.
Their office was able to determine that the man had been dead a full week before DeFazio found him.
‘I started putting 2 and 2 together. I knew I never seen that dog before, and I realized it was his,' she said.
The unidentified man's dog continued to roam around the neighborhood for two weeks after she found his owner's body, with DeFazio determined to track him down again.
‘I propped up with dark clothes on in the bushes and literally with the flashlights. And I'm like, I can do this. If anyone can do it, I could do it,' she said.
Catherine DeFazio had been seeing online warnings about a German shepherd that had been appearing unleashed around her Sacramento neighborhood
One day, DeFazio finally spotted the dog right on her front porch before it began to run into the street
What the dog led DeFazio to next was a heartbreaker: he showed her to what appeared to be a corpse
DeFazio brought out two other women to help her finally find the dog, including Nicole Hartman, who works with local dog rescues.
Hartman said that the poor pooch is in a state of sadness in the wake of his owner's death.
‘He's healthy. He's in good shape. He's sweet as can be. But he's crying for his owner. He wants his owner. And that's obviously not happening now,' she said.
Hartman said that the dog is not in the right shape for re-adoption but will be in due time.
‘Give me 30 days,' she said. ‘He's going to be a whole different dog.'
‘Right now, he's sad. He's depressed. He's crying. He's not eating. He's not drinking. I think he finally peed. But it's going to take him a good week to decompress,' Hartman added.
DeFazio believes that she's done the dog and his late owner a service to try and find him a safe home.
There is currently a backpack, some tarp and other debris located around where the body was discovered
DeFazio brought out two other women to help her finally find the dog
‘It felt like he was grateful he was found, and I felt like the dog did take me to him,' she said.
‘And all I could do is be respectful and preserve his honor, whether he was homeless, chose to be or not.'
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Sacramento County Coroner's Office for more information.
