Loyal dog helped solve his owner's gruesome murder while his cousin was jailed for life

A loyal dog who refused to leave his dead owner's side helped solve the case of her murder by allowing investigators to identify her body, prosecutors said.

Mandy Rose Reynolds, 26, was shot in a field fire in Robinson, Texas, before her body “burned beyond recognition.” She was found by police on April 5, 2023, the McLennan County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.

Her cousin, Derek Daigneault, 29, of Wichita, Kansas, was sentenced to life in prison for her murder on Nov. 7 after an investigation that spanned two states, according to prosecutors.

And one of the keys to identifying Reynolds was her white-haired labradoodle, Titan.

Police found Titan near her body barking “frentically.” He refused to leave the area and did not allow police to arrest him, prosecutors said.

The next morning the body was removed, but a passerby found Titan sitting in the same spot. This good Samaritan called Robinson Animal Control and discovered that Titan had a microchip and belonged to Reynolds.

“The key to this case was a heroic and loyal dog named Titan and the extraordinary cooperation between law enforcement agencies in multiple jurisdictions and states. This combination provided Mandy with justice and safety from a violent and dangerous criminal,” Assistant District Attorneys Ryan Calvert and Alyssa Killin said in a statement.

Robinson police then learned that Reynolds lived in San Marcos, Texas. San Marcos police were contacted and went to her home but found it completely empty, all of her possessions removed and her black Honda Accord missing, the release said.

A license plate database showed the car was located somewhere in Wichita, Kansas.

Wichita Police were alerted and on April 8, 2023 spotted her vehicle and attempted to stop it.

However, Daigneault was behind the wheel and the stop attempt ended in a high-speed chase that lasted nearly 30 minutes and reached speeds of over 100 miles per hour.

The Honda Accord eventually crashed into another vehicle and Daigneault fled on foot to a nearby grocery store, where he “hid on a shelf behind canned goods,” the DA's office said.

During a search of Reynolds' car in Wichita, police found a .380 pistol in the floorboard of the driver's seat.

Meanwhile, in Robinson, local police determined the body had been burned in a large plastic container, and police found a fired .380 shell casing burned in that container, the release said.

Surveillance video footage from a Walmart in San Marcos, Texas, showed Daigneault purchasing a large plastic container identical to the one in which Reynolds' boy was burned, a shovel and a gasoline can on the morning of April 4, 2023. The video also showed him leaving the store in Reynolds' car and Titan sticking his head out the car window.

The coroner eventually officially identified the body as Reynolds based on dental records. She was determined to have died from a gunshot wound to the head, and a .380 bullet was recovered from her remains.

The Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory confirmed that the bullet found in her body and the shell casing found by Robinson police were both fired from the handgun found in Daigneault's possession, the DA's office said.

An attorney for Daigneault did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.