Dogged determination – Owner of dead dogs turns to Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow after Cook’s denial

A teacher from Arlington Heights went to the law when her two dogs died under suspicious circumstances less than three months after she started a relationship with a man she met on a dating app, but prosecutors in Cook County declined to file charges.

Now the grieving dog owner, Sarah Manos, has turned to Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow in hopes of finding justice.

Manos also won a civil judgment last month in excess of $160,000 against her former boyfriend, 29-year-old Mathew Berry of Midlothian. Manos sued Berry in Cook County Court, claiming he inflicted serious injuries to her two bichon frise mix pets, Daisy and Kirby, and that he intentionally caused her emotional distress.

Manos accused Berry not only of killing her two dogs, but also of abusing her, saying the experience left her with post-traumatic stress disorder. And Berry wasn’t the only one who distressed Manos emotionally.

“My interactions with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office have caused me a lot of trauma itself,” Manos said in an email, telling how the office has ignored “dozens” of her calls after deciding not to bring charges against Berry.

In response to questions about why prosecutors chose not to charge Berry and have failed to respond to Manos’ telephone calls, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office released a statement that said the “evidence related to this incident was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to file felony charges.”

“Prosecutors in our Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Division worked with the victim to secure a conviction against the offender for violating a order of protection,” the statement said. “In October 2020, the offender was sentenced to one year’s probation.”

Berry could not be reached for comment.

Manos said she met Berry in April 2020 through the dating app Bumble. According to her lawsuit, a month and a day after they connected, Daisy the dog died.

In the hours leading up to Daisy’s death, the lawsuit said, Manos saw Berry feeding the dog fruit and shortly after the animal was lethargic.

Berry told Manos he was going to “inject a ‘morphine-like’ medication into Daisy’s right hind side,” the lawsuit said. “Immediately thereafter, Daisy became wobbly and unable to stand.”

Daisy later died at an animal hospital, according to the lawsuit, which went on to describe Berry abusing both Manos and Kirby.

This abuse included Berry encouraging his German shepherd, Zip, to attack Kirby, according to the lawsuit, which also said Zip bit Manos more than once.

While Berry was giving Kirby a bath on June 23, 2020, Manos saw him “slap Kirby in the face and slam his body in the tub as he was angry the dog was not behaving,” according to a report from the Midlothian Police Department.

This was followed by continued physical abuse and threats to kill the dog, according to the report.

That afternoon, the couple headed to Hecht Park in Mokena with their dogs, according to the police report and Manos’ lawsuit.

“At Hecht Park [Manos] related that Mathew continued to abuse” Kirby, according to the report, at one point throwing the dog into a pond several times and dragging him through the water until he thought he was dead.

Berry then performed CPR on the dog, according to the report.

After the visit to the park, Manos and Berry brought Kirby to an animal clinic in Orland Park and from there to a forest preserve in Midlothian, where Berry further abused the dog for about 45 minutes, according to the report.

Later, when Kirby was unable to walk, Manos called an animal hospital and was advised to take the dog to an emergency clinic, according to the lawsuit.

Berry drove Manos and Kirby to Animal Emergency in Mokena, according to the lawsuit, where they were told the dog “needed a specialist for suspected head trauma” and were advised to go to Buffalo Grove Specialty Center.

On the way to Midlothian to retrieve Manos’ car, Kirby died, according to the police report, despite Berry again performing CPR.

In the report, the Midlothian police explained their reasons for not pursuing a case against Berry.

“As of this time, there is not sufficient evidence to charge Mathew with any misdemeanor offense as the evidence would be Sarah’s statements which were found to not be credible,” a Jan. 15, 2021, supplement to the report said.

That hasn’t deterred Manos, who filed a report with the Mokena Police Department Jan. 4. That report has been forwarded to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office, where spokeswoman Carole Cheney said it remains under review.

Meanwhile, Manos, who said she has moved out of state, has two new dogs, Joey and Rosie, and now teaches at an elementary school, says she is now in a “good place.”

“Overall, I am very thankful to be doing well,” Manos said in an email. “My therapist has said that I have gone from being a victim, to being a survivor, to now thriving.”