Ludwig due back in court April 1

Ludwig due back in court April 1 By Kevin Allen Rappahannock News Staff Writer Tammy Lewis thought it was strange when her dog. Jeezy, went missing Feb. 7. The 11-month-old puppy, a Labrador-Rottweiler mix. usually did not wander far from her home on Antique Lane in Sperryville. He mostly remained around the house, playing with his older brother. Akon, and Lewis’s three daughters. “Most of the time they stayed in the yard, they really didn't go anywhere,” Lewis said. “But one day they were gone.” On Feb. 8, the family went looking for the lost dog. They trudged through the woods as far as a half-mile from home, but found no sign of him. On Feb. 13, Lewis’s neighbor, Thaniel Dodson, told her why. Her dog was dead. And so was his bluetick coonhound, Bulger. The two dogs had been caught in leg-hold traps on the property of Ray Ludwig, who later shot them, thinking they were strays. Ludwig lives on Oventop Lane on property adjacent to Dodson's. Dodson’s dog went missing on Feb. 12. He set out from his home on Atkins Lane the next day and found both of the dogs around 12:30 pan. He saw them in a ravine, each dead from a shotgun wound. Dodson had already found Ludwig's traps on Feb. 8. He said a neighbor called him around 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 7 the day Lewis's dog went missing - to tell Dodson about some gunshots he heard nearby. According to Dodson, the neighbor heard a gunshot, the sound of a dog yelping, another gunshot and then silence. “They said they heard a dog scream and holler, and then a second shot go off” he said. “It just made me sick.” Dodson set out to see if he could find the dog and any evidence of dogs he has lost in past years. He said he found the traps, one of which had a dead opossum m it. The scent may have attracted the dogs, he said. See LUDWIG, Page A2