Had he said that he went to bed and she was gone when he got up that would pose the problems of neighbours possibly seeing him outside with her at that time, or hearing her crying etc. I don't believe when he gave his statement that he thought those actions were at all criminal.
But, instead his story basically was "she wouldn't drink her milk, I wasn't having any of that, so I not only took her outside, through the fence gate (or garage), down the driveway and diagonally across the street and placed her BEHIND this tree and I knew coyotes could be out and get her, I've seen them"... I heard one of the MSM journalists live yesterday and they said it was I believe 52 feet from the fence to tree, it's not like he even just said he took her and placed her out in the yard.
The dogs to my knowledge didn't pick up that Sherin was by the tree at all.
There has to be some truth in his story, I think something DID happen around 3am, I think he did do laundry, I have no clue why that tree was significant to him, perhaps its a place he and his children have kicked a soccer ball around or sat under to read stories. Who knows, but he brought it into the story because it was in his subconscious.