“One of their German shepherd dogs”? That means there were others.
This could be the Sherlock Holmes clue of “the dog that didn’t bark” — or in this case, didn’t eat Gene and Betsy.
Don’t ask me what it means, but what about the other dogs?
As I understand it, the dog locked in the closet died. The dogs outside in the kennels are still alive.
No real mystery. Access to water is a matter of life or death.
The two other dogs were still there, running loose and evidently in good health. They may have been wandering in and out thru the open front door. I’ll bet they were hungry if the Hackmans had been dead for a couple of weeks.
The dead dog was in a closet.
The other two were running around free inside and outside as at least one door was open..............
Apparently there were a couple more running around the premises....outside. The one inside was in some kind of cage.