The grey Valley backstreet where Arnie died in his owners’ black ute

3 months ago 18

Nathan McKeown’s ute was left in a 12-hour parking spot on a quiet backstreet of Brisbane’s party district for 10 days before they found his dog, Arnie, dead in the tray.

Bleak and shadeless, Amelia Street is roughly a five-minute walk from the thumping heart of Fortitude Valley. There you’ll find cheap hotels, a boarding house, boxy commercial buildings with tinted windows, and not much else.

Across the road from where the black Hilux was parked is an erotic massage parlour, open from 11am to 11pm, with a sign on the door asking people to book in advance.

Arnie was found in the back of his owners’ ute in Fortitude Valley.

It’s not yet summer, but in Brisbane, it’s still hot. On the day after the ute was parked on Amelia Street, the mercury peaked at 29.1 degrees. It would have been much hotter under the vehicle’s black canopy.

On Tuesday, police pulled the German shepherd from the ute’s tray. In graphic footage provided to Nine News, Arnie’s limp body slumps onto a rolling stretcher. A police officer pinches her nose with an orange gloved forefinger and thumb. The stench must have been immense.

Behind the ute, which had a “For Sale” sign on it, was parked a van belonging to crematorium business “Pets in Peace”.

On Friday, a BMW was parked in the spot where the McKeowns’ ute was left for over a week.

The day Arnie was found, his owners, Nathan and Louise McKeown, posted their sorrow on a now-deleted Facebook page, thanking people for their help in trying to track down the ute and their pet.

The next day, Nathan McKeown was charged with one count of breach of duty of care of an animal.

It was a twist not many people saw coming. McKeown had claimed his ute was stolen from a mate’s place in the Bayside suburb of Wynnum in the early hours of Saturday, November 8, while he slept off a few beers.

He put Arnie in the back with some water when a few minor scuffles broke out with his friend’s kelpie, the story went.

The commercial buildings along Amelia Street in Fortitude Valley.

Over the next 10 days, the couple did multiple high-profile media interviews calling for the thief to return their dog and offering a $6000 reward, garnering 17,000 likes on the Facebook page.

Police and civilians spent countless hours searching for the animal, with tips about his possible whereabouts streaming in from around Brisbane, and even as far as Hervey Bay.

“I haven’t been sleeping well over the past couple of nights,” Nathan McKeown told Nine News on November 10.

CCTV from an Amelia Street business shows the ute glide by on the night he claimed it was stolen, but gives no indication of who was driving it.

The family posted photos on a Facebook page established to help find Arnie.

Police allege that Nathan McKeown drove it there around 10.30pm on Friday, November 7, walked away and never returned.

It is alleged that the following morning, he told his wife the ute had been stolen. She then called police, who said they believed she had wholeheartedly believed him.

Nine News Queensland visited the McKeown home on Thursday and Friday, but could not reach the family. This masthead has also contacted Nathan McKeown separately.

Brisbane City Council did not reply to questions about whether parking inspectors flagged the vehicle as suspicious while it was parked in a metered zone for more than a week.

Nathan McKeown is expected to appear before a Brisbane court next month.

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