Mystery as Colorado dog breeder is found murdered and 10 Doberman puppies are missing

A well-known Colorado dog breeder was found murdered in a wooded area and at least 10 of his Doberman puppies are still missing. 

Paul Peavey, 57, of Idaho Springs, was found by a search group of around 50 people that one of his closest friends, Bruce Boynton, organized on Saturday. 

'It sucks we had to go find our friend,' Boynton, who owns Pickaxe Pizza, told 9 News. '[He] was tossed over the hill and covered up with sticks and stones and debris. 

'[It's] nothing anyone wants to see in their life. It’s something that would haunt you for the rest of your life.' 

Clear Creek County Sheriff Matthew Harris said the body was found off an embankment and out of plain sight, and its condition suggested the death was suspicious in nature. It is unclear if Peavey was killed so his murderer could steal the puppies, with cops yet to make any arrests or share a possible motive. 

Boynton, alongside some of his customers, went out to search for the local breeder days after Boynton reported him missing after law enforcement failed to investigate, according to 9 News. They found Peavey's body within three minutes of searching. 

'Customers would have been in here enjoying music and pizza and maybe a cold beer, but we had something more important things to do,' he told the outlet. 

'Half the people that showed up don't even know Paul,' he told Denver 7. 

Boynton began to worry about Peavey after a mutual friend called him and asked if he had seen him. He had recently seen the breeder, but didn't think anything of his friend's silence as he knew Peavey was busy. 

He normally saw the dog breeder twice a week when he would come into his pizza shop for food. The last time the breeder had been heard from was August 19, according to police. 

On Wednesday, after going to his property on Two Brothers Road, Boynton found some of his friend's valuable items missing and 13 of his Doberman dogs. 

'His puppies are missing, his equipment is missing, anything of value is gone, the doors are wide open, and no one [was there],' he told 9 News. 'I felt that my friend was either in danger or worse. And we were right.' 

He couldn't stand to watch his friend's mysterious disappearance go on, so he set up the search party. 

'It should not have been us. The authorities should have listened to us from the very beginning and acted on it, but they did not,' he criticized the Sheriff's Office. 'They’re on our side now, but we had to prove what we’d been telling them for days.' 

The Sheriff's Office has since opened an investigation into Peavey's death, but Harris defended the law enforcement agency, telling 9 News that a missing person's report does not necessarily indicate a person is in danger and deputies have limited resources. 

'We have a small staff…A lot of complaints that come in, and we have to triage that in order of importance,' he told the outlet. 'If the situation and the information we learned suggested that a person was endangered, certainly we would have a larger team here.' 

Police do not believe the public is in danger. 

However, it does believe up to 10 puppies are still missing and encourages Central Colorado residents to check if their new Doberman puppies are microchipped if they recently adopted one, it said in a Facebook post. 

They've received several tips regarding the missing pups, including about an ad on Craigslist that they eventually determined was 'legitimate.' 

'The breeder for that site was cooperative with investigators and is in no way involved in this case,' it said. 

'His dogs were his life,' Boynton told Denver 7. 'He had been through some things in life, and the dogs were his therapy.

'We're going to miss him.'  

A coroner is still working to determine Peavey's cause of death.