I read the majority of the Spreckels chapters last night.
I was very interested in the section of Ann Rule's book that detailed domestic violence incidents between JS and DS, and particularly interested in the details about the guard dog incident. The way it reads, the dog was attempting to protect JS from a perceived threat from DS, and JS found it necessary to remove himself from the situation and report this incident to police to have it on record. Soon after, DS went to police to claim she was a victim of the dog and JS (who supposedly didn't call the dog off quickly enough) and she claimed she had never posed a threat to JS, she was the victim, not the abuser. She provided photographs of bruises allegedly from the dog and claimed she was protecting herself from JS with her arm, not threatening him in some way with her arm as perceived by the dog and claimed by JS.
It's interesting to me that both made a point of reporting these incidents but no charges were brought. I'm curious to know what motivated each of them to report these incidents to police but stop short of additional action to protect themselves (though I suppose one could argue JS took additional action in the form of divorce). Did JS go to police because he felt genuinely threatened, noting the incident should be on record in case violence escalated at a later date? Or was he concerned DS might report the dog and therefore wanted it documented that he felt the dog was protecting him from harm? Did DS go to police because she was genuinely afraid of the dog and JS, or was her action a tit for tat retaliation in response to JS' police report? Was there ever a threat to the dog as a result of this incident being reported? Anybody have any insights to share on this?
All of the above is just my opinion.