When Eric and Gail Cook said goodbye to their beloved dog, Raven, they were heartbroken.

She was 13 years old — a black German shepherd born on Nov. 11, 2011, and, as Eric Cook put it, “loved like a child.”

“We did everything for her,” he said.

In the hours after the dog’s death March 23, the Glen Burnie couple turned to Loving Care Pet Cremations in Catonsville to handle her body, after seeing it had positive Google reviews.

Later that day, the crematory owner came to pick up Raven’s body. He returned the next day with her alleged remains in a shadow box with her photo on it, Eric Cook said.

But then, about a week later, the couple got a call from a Baltimore animal control officer to let them know that Raven’s body was found dumped on the side of the road.

Raven was still wrapped in her blanket with her toys.

The Cooks said finding out Raven was left on the side of the road was “almost too much to bear.”

“We’re just speechless,” Gail Cook said. “How could someone do something like this?”

The Baltimore County Police Department said Thursday it’s investigating “theft by deception” involving Loving Care Pet Cremations.

The Catonsville business on Ingleside Avenue has been accused by multiple people — including another pet crematory owner — of improperly disposing of pet bodies and giving people concrete, sand or other material instead of their pets’ remains.

The police department received a complaint of “improper disposal” at the beginning of April, officials said.

Loving Care Pet Cremations did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Baltimore County Police did not respond to a request for comment.

Zoey Robinson-Budreski, the owner and founder of Charm City Pet Crematory & Funeral Services, said people have been coming to her in “droves” in recent weeks. The concerned pet owners are asking her to inspect the material they were given by Loving Care Pet Cremations and to verify whether they are animal cremains.

“They weren’t. Ninety-nine percent weren’t. They were forms of sand; some were just concrete; some were like a powder, like flour,” she said. “Obviously not cremains.”

Robinson-Budreski said she’s investigated material for about two dozen people. She said she’s looked at alleged remains from as far back as November 2024.

Now she’s trying to help other pet parents find closure.

A group of grieving pet parents has come together to form a virtual support group. Robinson-Budreski is planning an in-person vigil for people whose pets may have been improperly disposed.

“Some families are never going to get their pets back,” she said. “It kills me to think they can’t get closure.”