A man has been arrested after allegedly hanging a dog that belonged to another family with an electrical cord and punching their child in the face for refusing to help hide the dog's body.

Robert Leroy Edwards, 38, of Manatee County, Florida, was arrested for hanging a black retriever named Midnight because it won’t stop barking. The dog belonged to Richard Hunt, who owned the house where Edwards was renting a room where the incident took place, ABC News reported.

“My son called me, I think it was Wednesday morning, he called me hysterical. He said someone is killing Midnight, he is killing Midnight. He is trying to hang her. He’s hanging her,” Hunt told ABC News.

According to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Edwards hung the dog using an electrical cord from a tree that was outside the Hunt family’s house. After allegedly killing the family dog, he went inside the house and asked Hunt’s 16-year-old son to help him hide the remains of Midnight. When he refused, Edwards proceeded to punch him multiple times in the face.

“Words just don’t express the anger that’s inside me,” Hunt told ABC News. “I can see her face that last minute, I can see her struggling, not understanding what’s going on, my heart, I mean, he’s such a scumbag to have done that to her.”

Edwards was arrested within a short time and is being charged with battery, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and torture charges -- two misdemeanors and a felony. Deputies recovered Midnight’s body from a boat that was there on the property.

Edwards is due in court on Feb. 21, 2020 to face these charges.

Hunt said he felt he was on a mission and that he wouldn’t stop unless he was able to get justice for Midnight.

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Representational image of a Labrador. Pixabay
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