Vienna – An Austrian woman who blamed neighbours for killing her dog has emerged as the culprit, along with her tumble dryer, police reported on Friday.
The woman from the southern town of Gratkorn told police last week that she had found the pet dead at her doorstep after taking a walk.
She suggested that one of her neighbours killed the animal.
"Following extensive investigations by the Gratwein police department, it emerged that the 49-year-old woman had put the dog into the laundry dryer by mistake," police said in a statement.
The woman, who has admitted the real sequence of events, accidentally put the animal into the machine along with two dog blankets.
She tried to hide the incident because she did not know how to tell her son about the mistake, police added.