Mishawaka Police are investigating a man who’s accused of beating his dog to death.

Police found the dog on Saturday, in Chris Denaway’s garage in the 300 block of Millburn Court. Denaway’s ex-girlfriend told police she and her children saw Denaway beat his dog, Apollo, several times.

But Denaway says he’s the one who called police on Sunday, because the woman had broken into the home she used to share with him, trying to retrieve some of her belongings.

“I never beat the dog,” Denaway said, who asked not to be shown on camera because of the accusations. “This whole thing is one-sided because she got worried about her getting into trouble for breaking into the house so she brought up that the dog was in the garage.”

St. Joseph County Humane Society officer Melissa DeCook was called to the scene to assist police. She says she took several pictures of the dog then removed it for health reasons.

“... there’s now way of knowing how this dog died,” she said. “I cannot comfortably say he beat the dog.”

Denaway says Apollo got sick the week after Thanksgiving. He says the dog wasn’t eating or drinking, so he made an appointment to take it to the vet, but had to cancel.

“I had a three-day work week, didn’t get paid for the holiday and I didn’t have enough money to take it into a vet,” he said.

The following week, he came home from work one day and found Apollo dead in the backyard. He wrapped the dog up and put it in the garage, waiting for the ground to thaw.

“I was wrong in keeping it in there for so long, but I was going to bury it in the yard,” he says.

It is illegal to bury an animal in a backyard within city limits, although Denaway says he didn’t know that at the time.

Mishawaka Police would only tell NewsCenter 16 the case is still being investigated and charges have not been filed.

Denaway says the accusations are hurting his reputation and he insists he’s not a danger to any person or animal.

“After the Humane Society took the dog, the police allowed my son to stay the weekend here with me,” he said.

Denaway’s ex-girlfriend told investigators she knew the dog was dead back in December.

“She knew the dog had died and she knew that he had put the dog in the garage. So why did you wait four months to let someone know?” said DeCook.

Neighbors didn’t want to go on camera, but did tell NewsCenter 16 they’d never seen Denaway abuse his dog. A woman who lives next door says she’s seen Apollo outside in brutal rain and snow storms.

The Humane Society will not be able to determine the dog’s cause of death because of how long it was dead. But the investigating officer does have her own conclusion.

“I don’t think he beat the dog,” DeCook said. “I think the dog died from illness.”