THE TINY DOG PREVENTED A BIG CRIME.

It was a cold morning, in the mid-30s, and the sun was not expected to rise for another couple hours. Delene Ephraim and her husband Erich were asleep in their White Rock Valley home when a distinct noise — the repeated yapping of their tiny Dachshund — broke the night’s silence. Delene says her husband got out of bed to investigate the commotion in the backyard.

“He came out and started turning on all the lights,” she says. “The dog just wouldn’t stop barking.”

The Victim : Erich and Delene Ephraim

The Crime: Criminal mischief

Date: Saturday, Feb. 12

Time: 5 a .m.

Location: 9500 block of Mossridge

Amazingly, someone had actually scooped up the puzzled pooch and put it in its doggy crate. A closer investigation also revealed someone had tampered with a window screen in an apparent attempt to enter the home. The tiny pooch had saved the day — a canine hero.

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Unfortunately, the Ephraim’s good fortune did not extend to their neighbor.

“The neighbor behind us hadn’t been at home and they got cleaned out,” Ephraim says.

Burglaries with residents in the home are a scary proposition for sure, but luckily “man’s best friend” lived up to the adage in this case.

Dallas Police Sgt. Keitric Jones of the Northeast Patrol Division says dogs are good pets due to the fact that they can scare away burglars. He says this type of attempted burglary is rare.

“No matter if the dog is big or small the bark usually scares the burglars away,” he says. “Break-ins are not really common during the night time hours. They are usually in the day because that is when most people work. If burglaries happen at night, it is normally because the suspect knows that no one is home.” days after Stoney Rawlinson allegedly killed his girlfriend with a machete, he told police he was ready to turn himself in

Because of this he says to make sure your home is adequately lit during hours of darkness, especially in the rear of the residence, and make sure windows and doors are secure at all times even when at home. If you are present during an attempted break-in, Jones says call the police, stay in a safe place until officers arrive and do not confront the burglar.

Skillman — the address, of a neighborhood Tom Thumb parking lot, where police confronted Rawlinson, a little after midnight on a Saturday in February

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A year later, mom of negligenthomicide victim still seeks justice

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More than a year after 17-year-old Riley Rawlins, a student at Lake Highlands High School, was struck and killed near the Royal-Audelia intersection in Lake Highlands, 19-year-old Soraya Villaneuva, the unlicensed uninsured driver who hit him, is awaiting sentencing. Monica Rawlins, who was at her daughter’s eighth birthday celebration when she received the news that her oldest son had been fatally injured, says justice is slow and confusing, and she fears her son’s killer might not even spend time in jail. Though Villaneuva admitted to driving more than twice the posted speed limit and attempting to “beat the yellow light” as well as driving without a license and without insurance, she was not arrested at the scene. Her case eventually went before a grand jury, which returned a recommendation for criminally negligent homicide and assault with a deadly weapon. Villanueva was prosecuted only for the negligent homicide charge, to which she pleaded guilty. Rawlins says the court-appointed prosecutor offered a plea deal, but that the specifics of the offer were unclear. At press time, prosecutor Monique Ward and the investigating officer at the accident scene had not responded to requests for comment, and Rawlins was still waiting for an explanation regarding the plea offer.

—Christina Hughes Babb

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