Blood Sport

Doyle believed her.
"Why would she come up with this story about a guy going to Houston and killing two Mexicans down here?" he asks.

In Houston, the Vasquez case is closed. o Yeah, Doyle admits, there is a possibility that Herman Matthews, a.k.a. Yum Yum, told Murray to do whatever was necessary -- including murder -- to get the dog. After 15 years in the homicide division, sometimes a detective just has a feeling about a case.

"We believe that Matthews knew," says Doyle. "I believe he may have in fact sent these people here to kill Mark Anthony Davis. Unfortunately, there is no way I can prove it. Because the only person he gave the gun to is a dead man."

Yum Yum is currently incarcerated in a Chicago jail, waiting to be tried on federal drug distribution charges. Since no arrests have been made in Murray's murder, Chicago police refuse to comment on their investigation.

Rebel Kennels appears defunct. The kennel's phone is disconnected, and the elderly woman who owns the property claims to have no idea where Mark Anthony Davis is these days. She says he still maintains the place for her but no longer lives there.

Last summer, several pit bulls were spotted in the back yard of what used to be Rebel Kennels. But no dogs were visible during another peek over the fence in late October.

Davis has dropped out of sight. Presumably, he and the 44 missing pit bulls are together, somewhere, waiting for their next match. Despite his claims to the contrary, animal-cruelty investigators have no doubt that, wherever he is, Mark Anthony Davis is still fighting dogs. In his business, death is just part of the overhead.