A Cape Girardeau man has been sentenced to nine years in prison after he stole a dog and stabbed it 11 times, killing the animal.

Andrew Nipper pleaded guilty to the crime earlier this month after the case was transferred to Perry County Circuit Court on a change of venue.

Judge Michael Gardner sentenced Nipper to four years on a felony animal abuse charge, two years for stealing the dog and three years for first-degree stalking.

Katlynn Biggerstaff said she put her black, female dog on a leash outside her apartment at 442 S. Spring Ave. around 4:30 p.m. May 19, Cape Girardeau police detective Jerry Franks said in a probable-cause statement.

A short time later, she discovered the dog was missing. At 9:30 p.m., there was a knock on the apartment door. When the door was opened, a black trash bag was found on the front step. Biggerstaff’s dog was found deceased inside the bag, according to the statement.

Biggerstaff told police she believed Nipper, an ex-boyfriend of a friend, killed the dog.

She said Nipper had been “stalking” the woman and tried to strike her with his vehicle while the two women were downtown at the Mississippi River wall.

She told police she believed Nipper killed her dog as a way to intimidate and retaliate against her for calling the police on him.

Biggerstaff said she later sent Nipper a message on Snapchat. Nipper denied killing the dog but wrote it sounded like she was having a “ruff” day, according to the probable-cause statement.

On May 20, Nipper, who was 18 at the time, was arrested in connection with another incident.

On May 21, police received an anonymous tip Nipper had been in possession of the dog. The tip included a “selfie” photo Nipper apparently took with his own cellphone and sent to another person. The photo was taken while Nipper, wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, was in his vehicle with the dog, Franks said.

Police searched Nipper’s residence, finding a roll of black trash bags similar to the one the dog was found in, and a hooded sweatshirt resembling the one in the photo.

Police later found black hairs, similar to hairs recovered from the dog, in Nipper’s vehicle.