GREENUP, Ky. — If dogs could only talk, police would undoubtedly know who murdered Cricket.

Cricket was the nickname for Leslie Lee, 40, who was found dead March 4 by her husband, Steve Lee, in their home off East Main Street, a quiet neighborhood in this county seat town of about 1,200 residents where murder isn’t supposed to happen.

She had been stabbed at least twice in the neck, and her boxer Pandi, who neighbors said was very protective of her, was gone.

Greenup County Sheriff Keith Cooper said at the time that finding the dog was a priority because that might give them a clue as to who killed Lee.

“It must have been somebody she knew, we figure,” Cooper said.

The dog was found March 21 wandering along the A-A Highway near the Greenup-Lewis County line, about 30 miles west of Greenup.

Cooper, whose deputy, David Bocook, is handling the investigation, said Wednesday they still don’t have much in the way of clues to go on, but did say they have “a person of interest.”

“The dog was unkempt but healthy,” said Allen Grubb, a worker at the Greenup County Animal Shelter, where the dog was brought.

Grubb said it has since been released to either a relative or friend of the Lees.

The dog was being kept Wednesday at a home next door to the house where Lee was murdered. The people keeping the dog declined to comment.

Ken DuPont, who lives on East Main Street just 30 yards or so from the Lee residence, said he heard or saw nothing out of the ordinary the morning of March 4.

It was about 6:45 a.m. when Steve Lee found the body of his wife and called police.

Cooper said Lee told them he awoke between 4:30 and 5 that morning and, unable to go back to sleep, went for a drive, finding his wife’s body when he returned.

Cooper said he provided precise information on the route he took and had produced a receipt from a business in West Portsmouth, Ohio, where he had stopped while out.

Cooper said as far as he knew there were no marital problems between the couple. He said he had heard they had filed for a divorce but there was no record of that.

He said Leslie Lee, who used her maiden name, Lanham, along with her married name, was well thought of in the community and no one said anything bad about her at all.

“I don’t know why anyone would want her dead, what the motive would be,” he said.

Lanham-Lee was known for the charity work combating child abuse she did in the motorcycle community. She was recognized Feb. 25 by the Kentucky House of Representatives for the work she did in raising funds for Katelyn Stinnett, a girl from Lexington who died in December of injuries suffered at the hands of an abuser.

She was founder and coordinator of the Katelyn Stinnett National Memorial Ride, which reportedly raised about $150,000 for the charities involved.

Cooper urged anyone with any information about the case to call the sheriff’s department at (606) 473-7037.

G. SAM PIATT can be reached at (740) 353-3101,

ext. 236, or spiatt@heartlandpublications.com.