Dr. Insanity - Victim's Dog Leads Officers To Owner's Dismembered Body

Episode Date: August 1, 2026

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I need you to get fire, CID, looks like a body that's burning. In the middle of this field lies the burning body of an unidentified woman. Unfortunately for Texas police, whoever did this shows the perfect night to cover their tracks. The body? Yeah. Oh, Jesus. What is this hole right here in the skull? Ironically, perfect storm of the perfect storm of destruction of evidence.

As investigators analyzed the crime scene for whatever evidence remains, a stray dog refuses to leave the place, circling the field as if he's trying to lead them somewhere. Detectives don't know it yet, but this dog is their only lead to a killer who spent years slipping through the justice system, walking away from violent crimes that should have put him behind bars long before this night. And worse still, this burning body may not be the only victim. There is a possibly the victim's dog that's running around. Yes, hi, my name is Mandy Reynolds, and I got a message of you guys found my dog. Get in your car! Yeah!

You make any movement, you will be killed! It's approximately 10 p.m. in Robinson, Texas. A violent storm is sweeping through the area when police receive a 911 call about a Pondon call. one call about a possible brush fire, but in reality, it would be much more than that. Robinson, No. 1, where's your emergency? I was just calling, I tried calling the fire department to see there's a fire in our subdivision, but it may just be been burning brush because they're building houses, but I wasn't sure. We did have lightning, so that's why I wasn't sure to you.

Okay, I can get someone hit out that way to check on it. Given the severe weather, the call sounds routine. Still, dispatch sends Jason Nattkins, a veteran corporal with more than two decades of experience to assess the scope of the fire. But once he arrives and gets closer to the flames, he would spot something so vile and would make him sick to his stomach. 12 to 04. I need you to get fire, CID, and, uh, O4 out here.

This looks like a body that's burning. So I use my fire extinguisher to put it out or just leave it, leave it down. as it is to preserve any evidence. You can try to put out? I can maybe get it put out, but I'll try. After Officer Atkins finishes putting down the fire, the sergeant arrives on scene. As he steps out of his vehicle,

little do the officers know that just feet away from them sits an unexpected witness, one who saw everything that happened. Is it a body? Yeah. Oh, Jesus. I got the fire out. Okay, that's fine.

Just... I got this up. I saw. Be careful. Respondage you go. I haven't walked up super slow, so I just walked up both enough to spray it out because obvious death. I wasn't going to get all up on it. Possibly female.

It looks like a bra strap. I got to about right here. Okay. That's fine. That's fine. Fire extinguers. That's fine. Rain's starting to come again if y'all have any pop up.

canopies or something where we can get something put up over the crime scene to try to preserve the crime scene please just be worse for the scene or let's turn it burn it burn it burn it? Because if it continues to burn you can potentially lose any additional evidence that's there right versus if you put it out with a dry cam now if they would have hit it with a hose it would have washed everything into the mud with a dry cam fire extinguisher like that we can separate the dry cam from whatever other evidence might still be there I got potentially female, yeah, it might be hers, potentially female body burned all the way down to the bone, 700 block to Heston. Go ahead and notify and call out animal control. We have a loose dog that's around the scene, potentially possibly might be the victims. We need to capture this animal. Although Atkins and the sergeant realize the dog may belong to the victim, even they don't yet

understand just how instrumental this witness is about to become. By now, several more police officers, firefighters, and Detective Ryan Collins have made their way to the scene, and with rain and thunder refusing to stop, they know the scene must be preserved at all costs. But as they prepare to return to the body, they would come across certain details that would make them question whether whoever did this got incredibly lucky, or whether this wasn't their first time. All right, so, so I'm not going to have you all go to the scene.

Okay. Since we're here, we're already in the scene. Corporal Actions will not be going in the scene, but I will assist Detective Perry and throwing that up. You must have said that the piercing just carry. That would be outstanding. That's a, that's a, that's, that's, that's, way to be smart.

Way to be the smart one. Come on, think tall thoughts. Yeah. You know me? That's why he's asking if you're okay. I'm good. Here, one, two. How would you testify in court on the amount of rain that came in between the time?

It was a short torrential storm with dime size haylor. Okay. That lasted about 15 minutes. And Sergeant Hughes was here also? Yes. Okay, so that'll be on y'all's body cams, so as far as time and all, okay. Yes. With drizzle, whore, stop, drizzle, hail, stop, whored, then drizzles and stopped. To top it off, the fire was involved.

Ironically, perfect storm of the perfect storm of destruction of evidence. Indeed, with hail, rain, and now fire, properly examining the body will prove to be a nearly impossible task, almost as if someone had deliberately chosen the perfect weather for his crime. One hour after the body is discovered, the fire marshal arrives and, together with Detective Collins, prepares to head towards the body in search of the smallest clues that may remain. But unbeknownst to them, every theory they're about to form would play right into the Keller's hands, steering the investigation exactly where he wants it to go. But either she's stone knocked out, but I can tell you right now,

I can stand next to a campfire and realize one of my eye. Rear end is getting too hot. And the fact of the recent upticks and the homeless population, being on running up and down 35, yeah. Like 16 bodies in Austin. We've had three in Waco, and I think there's 10 in Dallas, Fort Worth area. I mean, you look at this torso. It's a small person.

Very small. That looks like the very, very cheap heater that you can get. And if she was drunk, handle her high, did she die? Did she open and then something set fire in the box that then made her that smell? Or did someone come here, find her, goes, oh, shit, and then just let the fire? So far, all these theories are exactly what the killer wanted, allowing him to stay one step ahead. But then the fire marshal would notice something that would put them back on the right track. What is this hole right here in the skull?

Oh All the front Blunt force trauma Mm-hmm I'll leave that up to a M.E. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

And do you have any concern with that hole in the forehead? So it could be a lot of things, so it could be I still need some of that thing. That'll come out of the M.E. Gotcha. The way, but the missing piece of it is what kind of makes me question

but it's just really interesting because it's right here on the forehead. She said there is decomp. In my opinion, that smells like decom. And for somebody who strictly deals in dead bodies, I value the opinion. Right, absolutely. Because I was over there for some of that conversation. As it looks right now, as we have a homicide. Although not everyone at the scene is convinced,

Detective Collins knows this is a homicide, and his intuition would soon be proven correct. More than three hours in, and investigators still have no idea who the attacker or even the victim is, yet the answer has been sitting just feet away from them since the very beginning. They just need to catch it first. There is a possibly the victim's dog that's running around because it kept running up to the body and barking at it. We haven't found it. It took off.

She likes your truck. You want to put your tailgate down, see if she'll jump in it? Maybe the owner was a truck person had a pickup. Hi! Come here. Well come here, chicken. Well, come here, chicken. You big chicken.

We can have a T-bone steak in our hands right now. It wouldn't do a good. Despite multiple attempts, none of the officers managed to catch the dog as it disappears towards the neighboring houses. Soon after the body is transported for autopsy, while animal control is requested to arrive the next to the next to the next to arrested to arrive the next morning and the hope the dog will still be around the scene.

As the scene is locked down, it becomes increasingly clear to detectives that the killer is highly calculated, carefully choosing the perfect circumstances for the murder, and most worryingly, this may not be his first time. But despite this planning, the killer has left something behind, something that will come back to bite him and expose his carefully constructed escape plan. Dogs are... You think my little... Oh, my detective, with all due respect, do not call me back.

Get in your call! You make any movement, you will be killed. The next morning, officers return to the field in search of a breakthrough. One team is sent back to the crime scene to look for any clues that may have been missed, while another goes from business to business, checking whether anyone may have captured the victim, the killer, or even the dog on camera. And despite the killer being seemingly prepared for everything, officers are about to discover there are a few things he overlooked. Hi, are you this morning?

I'm doing good. My name is a Vesare Collinson with Robinson PD. No, what it is, we found a dead body that had been burnt. And so. Around here? Mm-hmm. Oh. Rangers are going to be here tomorrow at night.

So hopefully nobody comes out here with our flags. All right. I don't guess we'd heard anything from autopsy? Uh-uh. At 2 o'clock, they weren't even there. Oh, really? Yeah. We're literally, when I leave here, I'm going to Pilot,

going to McDonald's, going to Rush. I'm going to every business to see if they have a fish. Yeah, of course. I mean, we're literally just kind of treading at this point. So you burnt the dog, too? No. I think some of these ring cameras are going to be our freaking saving grace. I hope so, man.

Police getting a vehicle coming in. You cannot believe that dog belongs to. What are the chances? It just hangs around. What time is that out? What is the one thing that caught me, so it says, what, 2033? So that's 830? And he's kind of, that's one thing I got that looked weird.

After visiting nearly a dozen businesses, one officer finally stumbles across something potentially very useful, a black Honda leaving the area around the time the fire started. The problem, however, is that the footage is too blurry to make out the license plate, meaning detectives still needs something else. Later that afternoon, the police department receives a major update. The dog has finally been captured, but the biggest breakthrough comes when animal control

skins the dog's microchip, identifying him as Titan and his owner as 26-year-old Mandy Rose Reynolds, listed alongside Titan. contact information is Mandy's address, located over 100 miles from where her body was found. And when they look Mandy up, her appearance matches the little information officers already know from the scene that the victim is a young woman of small stature. With this, officers decide their next step is to conduct a welfare check. So they head to her apartment in San Marcos. But when officers arrive, the person who opens the door isn't who they expect. Police department.

Oh, hello. Hello. Detective sent up at the San Markle Police Department. Hi. How are you? How are you? We're here on a welfare check for a person who needs to be associated to this apartment. Mandy.

Oh, Mandy Reynolds? Mm-hmm. She's an E1 now. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry, but... Oh, no, you're fine. How do you all know Mandy?

So Mandy is my best friend. Okay. I actually got her the... apartment here. No, the address is 1,000 LBJ. It's like a five-minute walk from here. It's the ones that are a little further down on there. It's been warning sent. Have you talked to her in the last two or three days? The last time I talked to her was Sunday. How was that conversation?

It was good. I know she was talking about Boston going to California the next day, but then that fell through. Does she have a boyfriend or anything? No. She has an ex-boyfriend. Exploored. A couple. But no, her cousin lives with her. Who's her cousin?

I don't know his name. Does she still have her dog? Yeah. Normally Mandy's in constant contact? Yeah, we haven't had that for a few days. And I remember, yeah, thinking, like, yeah, I haven't heard you mentioned, like, hanging out with Mandy or, like, doing things together in the last few days, which, to me, it was unlike her, but I'm just better,

like, what, a month ago, for the first time? I was going to lead to like just the quiet. Drama. Yeah, it's just been nothing but drama when she went down here. We're going to go over to E1. Okay. I am the manager of this property. Oh, really?

So I can't let you inside the apartment if we need to. Knowing the victim has not yet been officially identified as Mandy, officers choose their words very carefully. According to the couple, Mandy's life. Life was always full of drama, much of it, as Diana goes on to explain, revolving around the men she surrounded herself with. And as Diana leads officers to Mandy's apartment, they're about to learn exactly who those men are. Appreciate you coming up and helping us. She lives with one roommate? Yes.

And it's a cousin? Yes. What does her cousin say? Um, do you guys start with a J? A guy or girl? Guy. Guy. Is he younger than her?

Yes. Is it Jared? Jared is her ex-beiances. Is there a lot of drama with him? Just because he's doing like a small business thing with her grandfather. And I know that went so. Her and Jacob always fight on and off. She changed her number because she didn't want dates up to hot with her number.

She said she was scared. Recently manned with dismaying a lot of enemies. How so? Like, she's in her ex and Kansas. Thanks to Diana, officers have just uncovered three potential suspects. Jared, Mandy's former fiancé, with whom she shared two dogs, including Titan. Jacob, an ex-boyfriend she had been trying to avoid after they split on bad terms, and finally, her cousin, who had been living with her for the past month.

Police know they'll need to look into each of them more closely, unaware that one of these suspects is already tied to another. alleged homicide. But when officers finally reach her apartment, they still have no idea who or what is waiting for them on the other side of the door. Sorry, I'm asking a million questions of her getting a lot of stuff, but her cousin that she lives with, what is his name? I don't know. I don't want to spook them if you think they'll answer. I don't think she's home. You can move down again? Unless she cracked everything up. Is it probably unusual for her to do stuff like this or is this seems bizarre? I know she was unhappy the past couple of weeks and she kept like talking about moving.

But yeah, on Sunday she was unloading everything. What about to my way. Is this just a one bedroom or two bedroom? Just a one bedroom. Broken glass. She was on Sunday leaving here? Nope. Because she was staying last when I talked to her.

There's a broken glass in that tub it looks like. it looks like. It's just strange. Her dog is somewhere different. I mean, I guess we could have asked you if she would have answered your phone call. If you called. Um, I tried calling her and went straight to voicemail. The last time she did this was when she was moving here. Just really concerned. It's like getting stranger and stranger and obviously if she would answer you ever, you might have a ticket to me? Yeah. But it's just like, now she's moved out of here. Strangely, officers discover Mandy's apartment has been completely stripped out, yet there are no signs of a struggle, no blood, and no evidence that a crime had taken place. Still,

to both Diana and the deputies, something doesn't add up. Shortly after midnight, officers leave the apartment and head back to the station to review everything they've learned. But before long, they receive a call from the medical examiner, confirming with the hospital. they had feared. Through dental records, the body is definitively identified as Mandy Reynolds. She suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, inflicted sometime before her body was set on fire. With one of the investigations, two biggest questions answered, detectives finally begin gaining some momentum. The following morning, as investigators begin pursuing leads that could identify Mandy's killer, one of those leads, unexpectedly, comes to them.

Robinson police. Yes, hi, my name is Mandy Reynolds, and I got a message of you guys found my dog. Perfect. Let me put you on just a brief hold here. Give me one moment, and I'll get you with the person that can help you. Awesome. Thank you. On the line is Mandy Reynolds, but his dispatch transfers the call to Detective Perry.

It wouldn't take long for something to feel very off. This is Detective Perry. Hi, I just got a message saying you guys found my dog. We believe so. So what is your dog? He's the pool retriever mix. Where does the dog belong? Well, I was on my way to Wichita Falls, and I live in San Marcos, and Titan is his name.

He just ran off. What was your name? I apologize. My name is Mandy. Do you want me to come get him, or I don't understand. stand is he at the pound? So we just put him at the pound, but we put a hold on him because we were trying to figure out who he belonged to. How long ago was this that he's been out? Oh, heck, it's been, I don't know, this would have been around one in the morning. Uh, detective, I hate to cut you off, but, you know, I'm, uh, I'm actually at work. I'm sorry guys had to deal with that, but y'all just come, uh, I'll come get him. What is it? I mean, 100 miles. So about one o'clock last night. Oh, Jesus Christ. Yes. What? I mean, what is the interrogation? about. No, no, I'm just trying to make sure I understand why... You know what, that dog, that's my dog you guys have. Let's get that straight, detective. Okay, and that's fine. I understand that.

You know what, I'll just come to the pound. Goodbye. After hanging up, Perry is certain someone is attempting to impersonate the deceased victim. Believing he may have just been speaking with the killer, Perry immediately calls the number back, while investigators race to trace the phone's location. This is Mandy. Mandy? Yeah. Hey, this is Detective Perry.

I think we got off on the wrong foot. So the reason I'm asking some questions, I'm just going to be up front with you. We found your dog in a field. In the field was a crime scene of a deceased person. Oh, my God. I didn't want to give you all the details because that's kind of sensitive. That is why I was asking some questions to verify how the dog got there, what's going on. Oh, wow.

I mean, geez, a field. How, I want, good Lord. I just wonder how long he was outside, you know? I can't even imagine what he went through, and then now there's the deceased person. Like, oh, my God. So this number comes back to a different name. Do you, are you on somebody's phone plan?

I'm going to be frank with you, sir. You know, I'm sorry that this happened, but I cannot waste my whole day speaking to you. I'm just trying to figure out how long the pup was there that could, if the puppy messed with, body. If the puppy messed with the body, you think my little titan would go? Oh my detective, with all due respect, do not call me back.

Although the caller hangs up once again, investigators finally get exactly what they needed. The phone has successfully traced and the signal is pinged to the west side of Wichita, Kansas. With Mandy confirmed dead, a mysterious caller impersonating her and her heart, Honda Accords still unaccounted for, detectives issue a Bolo for the vehicle. Before long, flock cameras pick up Mandy's Honda traveling along Mays Road in Wichita. Convinced one of their three suspects is behind the wheel, officers move in to conduct a traffic stop. But instead of pulling over, the driver would do the exact opposite. Bring the side of off.

Hey, he's taking home. Give this guy the opportunity to get out of your way. You gotta go around. Try to gain as much as you can. Is that him up there weaving through traffic still? He's approaching Tyler. Okay. Go, go, go, go, go. He's running west.

Get a perimeter. Go. He's running west? Running west, yep. He's running near the Dylums. Take us to the backside. They've got three up here. Sure, come open.

We're going to open. Take us to the back. Watch that fucking asshole on the bike. Do we ask us like description? Then he run into the Dillens. Yeah, he ran into the Dillons. Sir, lock the Dylans down. After the suspect hides inside the store, officers outside quickly begin surrounding the building.

With dozens of innocent people potentially in his line of fire, they draw their weapons and prepare to move in. Come out, come out, come out! Hey, my man, get your family out of here, you're fine. He said go, let's go. Come here, come here. Where do you go? I didn't see him. Did he see him?

Did he see him? Yeah. Where'd he go? They say they towards the back, but I've just been getting you. Yeah. Maybe he's over there. I hear something yelling. Hey!

I have five. Let's cross part. Let's go out! You make any movement, you will be killed. I got hands. Crawl out. Crawl out towards the sound of our boys. Somebody get less lethal.

Somebody's got to back off one direction or another. Place lethal. Go ahead. Go on. Crawl out towards us. You're gonna have to move all with me. Ready? Yep.

Pull them out. 283, clear the air. Clear there. One in custody. In less than four minutes, officers finally locate the suspect hiding inside a store shelf. As they move in to arrest him, they notice he's drifting in and out of consciousness, leading them to suspect he's under the influence of truce. Despite his condition, officers managed to identify him as one of the three suspects connected to Mandy.

Her cousin, Derek Dagonault, believed to be suffering from a drug overdose, Derek is taken to the hospital where he's treated overnight. During this time, investigators begin digging into his background, and what they uncover is deeply concerning. Not only does Derek have a lengthy criminal history, including aggravated assault and burglary, but he's also wanted in connection with another homicide. Just weeks earlier, his girlfriend, Shanoa Hanzel, had been found dead in a ditch under mysterious circumstances. Investigators now realize they may be dealing with someone far more dangerous than they anticipated,

and under no circumstances can they afford to let him back out onto the streets. The next morning, Derek is transported to the Sedgwick County Jail for questioning, where detectives need to figure out his role in not one, but two homicides. Detective Chisholm, and this sergeant Hardy. What's that one, sir? Which one where? Yeah, the big one on your arm there. Family forever.

Family forever, sure. Would you like you have a pretty good handle of what's going on while you're here, why we want to talk to you? I'm just trying to make sure you're in a position where you can answer questions. I fully understand my situation. I'm not exactly sure why you guys want to talk to me unless it has to do with Shanoa. And besides that, though. I am the detective that's been investigating Shanoa's death. Shanoa was your girlfriend, right?

And Shanoa is my best friend for two years. Just since I was released in prison the first time. So pretty much January goes by, man, me and we're not talking. Like, we might be here and there. Like I said, it's beyond repair. It's gone. And I'm okay with letting I relate. Like, I'm not about to go do my life in prison over a female.

I told them. Last thing I said, does, you know, man, I don't know. I'll beat my son. I said, you leave, don't come back. Could have been an accident? Sure. I don't know. I don't see it, but did I do it?

As expected, Derek calmly denies any involvement in his ex-girlfriend's death. From the beginning, detectives believed the evidence tying him to her murder was weak at best, but the same cannot be said about Mandy. And as questioning continues, the conversation is about to take an inexplicable turn. Where did you get the car? I'm going to say you something, and I'm going to leave it as like the car. in Texas is very real. When the person I went down to Texas with was knee-deep in debt with the cartel.

But how's that had to do with the car you ran from us in last night? What do you mean? Well, I mean, where did you get the car? The car was my cousins. Did you give you the car? The car, and it wasn't my choice. It makes sense, it makes sense. if it is.

The cartel told me go dig this grave, right? This was grave I dug. My grave. They emptied a couple slugs right into my chest. They say, they did it. You want a beer?

And I turn. Yep. Take two to my chest, and I got a bulletproof vest on with a plate in it, you know? Give me a favor real quick. Lift up your shirt. Just let me see your chest.

Whereabouts do you think you got shot? Pretty much center mask there. Uh-huh. Okay. As the detective examines his chest, there is no bruising on Derek's body, something investigators would expect to see had he truly been shot twice, even while wearing a bulletproof vest. By now, detectives realize that by avoiding direct confrontation,

they've gotten virtually nowhere. So now they would attempt to pick apart his account piece by piece. But this approach is about to backfire. I get out of the grave in St. Margos. at Mandy's apartment. The eerie feeling, like they're just certain that she wouldn't have left, that was left.

If someone made you kill her or made you watch her get killed, now's the time to let us know. Look, man, I'm done talking about the cartel with you guys, period. I'm done talking about the situation. You know, like, are you guys trying to get me killed?

No, we're trying to find out if you killed her. Want to talk to your mom? We talked to her a little earlier and she said she wouldn't talk to him. It's just up to you. Yeah, I can I call her? They're asking where Mandy is. They got her.

I know you too. You feel me? But I'll tell you one thing for sure, two things are certain it ain't going to be because I killed Chenoa or Mandy. That's not why I'm going back to prison. Oh, I know you didn't. I know you didn't. I know you didn't kill Shanoa and definitely not your cousin either. While Derek's mother remains adamant that her son is innocent,

detectives outside the interrogation room have just finished reviewing surveillance footage from across San Marcos, and the evidence tells a very different story. Piece by piece, investigators begin reconstructing what they believe happened to Mandy. Just weeks after Shanoa's death in March, Derek had an active warrant and was wanted in connection with the case. That's when Mandy decided to let him stay at her apartment in San Marcos. By early April, the situation had deteriorated. Mandy was struggling to live with Derek and decided she would drive him back to Wichita around April 4th. Investigators believe Derek knew he was about to be kicked out.

Prosecutors alleged that sometime on April 3rd, Derek shot Mandy once in the head inside her apartment using her own stolen 380 caliber handgun before taking her cash and belongings. The following morning, Derek purchases a large plastic storage container, the same type used to later conceal Mandy's body, along with the same thing. the shovel, gas can, duct tape, and garbage bags. Fifteen minutes later, CCTV captures him loading the items into Mandy's Honda Accord, and sticking his head out of the passenger window is Mandy's dog, Titan. That afternoon, investigators believe Derek returned to Mandy's apartment where he cleaned

and staged the scene before loading her belongings into a Penske moving truck. Later that evening, he drove two hours to Robinson, Texas, where he dumped Mandy's body and set it on fire, a crime executed almost perfectly. If not, for Mandy's dog he left behind. In November 2004, Derek Dagonalt is convicted of murdering his cousin, Mandy Reynolds, and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 2004. He has not been charged or convicted in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Shanoa Hansel, and that investigation remains ongoing. And as for Titan, he was happily taken out of the pound and is now living happily with Mandy's best friend, Diana.