Update: Friday, 6:30 p.m. -- The couple agreed to have three of their adult dogs put to death, according to Mike Martindale of the Detroit News. A judge remanded them to Lapeer County Jail in lieu of $500,00 cash surety bond each.
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The owners of two dogs that mauled to death a jogger in rural Metamora Township are being charged with second-degree murder, the Lapeer Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday night.
L.L. Brasier reports in the Free Press that Sebastiano Quagliata, 45, was already in custody Thursday night and his wife, Valbona Lucaj, 44, was expected to turn herself in shortly, Prosecutor Tim Turkelson told the paper.
The pair will be arraigned in Lapeer District court at 9 a.m Friday. They face many years up to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Prosecutors also charged the couple with possessing an animal causing death.
Two Cane Corso dogs owned by the couple are blamed for attacking and killing Craig Sytsma, 46, of Livonia on July 23 as he jogged past their home on a rural Metamora Township road. Dogs owned by the couple had been involved in at least two previous, non-fatal attacks.
