‘I Think She Killed Bruna’: Dog Trainer Claims Service Animal Was Stolen, Fears The Worst

A dog trainer from Park Hill is desperate for answers after his dog was taken while he was out of town.

The woman he's accusing of taking the dog is Amanda Smith, a woman convicted of child abuse and neglect out of Mayes County.

Before her conviction, Smith ran the Circle L Rescue for dogs. 

Mason Lane, a combat veteran and dog trainer, did some work for the rescue and had come to trust Smith. He now says that was a mistake.

“You know, I've discovered so much from talking with neighbors, and what I've learned in the last 72 hours has sickened me, and she fooled a lot more people than just me,” said Mason Lane.

Lane took a several-week hiking trip over the summer, during which he was in and out of contact. He left his service dog in training with a foster he trusted from the Circle L Rescue.

That foster told Lane that Smith came to pick up the dog under false pretenses. Later, he says they learned that it was just days before Smith turned herself in to federal authorities to serve her 20-year sentence.

When Mason got back to Oklahoma, Bruna was nowhere to be found.

“I go back and forth. I get a little bit of hope because I'll find something out, and then I'll go investigate that avenue, and it's a dead end,” said Lane.

After posting on social media, Lane was contacted by others who had similar stories about Smith.

“I thought she was like me, you know. And then everybody else that does this, that we're we want to help animals and humans alike, you know,” said Lane.

Lane says he knew when he got Bruna's kennel back, something bad had happened.

“I think she killed Bruna,” said Lane. “I'm still in shock, I guess, because I'm learning that it's nothing at all what she had claimed.” 

Lane has filed a report with the Mayes County Sheriff's Office and notified area shelters and rescues. He's hoping that if Bruna is still alive, someone will know where she is. If she's not, he hopes someone will help him recover her remains to be buried on his property.