Dog’s body found attached to cinder block off Newport Beach poses a mystery

Authorities are investigating how a dog with a cinder block attached to its harness and leash ended up dead in the ocean off Newport Beach on Saturday.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol received a call around 1:30 p.m. from a boater who saw the large dog with short brown fur floating about a mile from the Newport Pier.

Harbor Patrol found the dog’s body and called Newport Beach animal control and a crime scene investigator, who went to the scene on a Harbor Patrol vessel and collected the dog’s remains. The breed of the dog had not been determined as of Wednesday morning.

“The dog’s body appeared to have been in the water for an extended amount of time,” said Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella. “I couldn’t believe it when I read the call.”

The dog did not have an identification tag or microchip. It is not clear whether the dog died before or after it was in the ocean.