Mandy Rose Reynolds, 26, was found “dead beyond recognition” in April 2023. Her dog helped police identify her and her killer, Derek Daigneault

The 2023 murder of an Idaho woman was solved with the help of an unlikely source: the victim’s dog.

Mandy Rose Reynolds, 26, was found burning and “dead beyond recognition” in April 2023 by authorities responding to a brush fire in Robinson, Texas, according to the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office.

Her cousin, Derek Daigneault, 29, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, Nov. 7, for her murder, the district attorney’s office said in a release last week.

The investigation began on April 5, 2023, after police found Reynolds’ body, initially unrecognizable, burning in a field next to a white dog that “barked frantically at officers and refused to leave the area of ​​the body, but also refused to allow the police. to capture him”, according to the prosecutor’s press release.

The next day, the dog was still at the location after the body was removed when a citizen alerted animal control who tracked the dog’s owner via a chip placed on it. The police were then informed that the body probably belonged to Reynolds and learned that the dog’s name was Titan.

That information led police to Reynolds’ residence, where they found all of her belongings missing and her house completely empty, the DA’s office said. The victim’s car was also missing, prompting police to run information about her vehicle against a license plate database. They determined the car was in Wichita, Kan.

Wichita police, after being tipped off about the vehicle, spotted Reynolds’ car on April 8, 2023, and encountered Daigneault, according to the DA’s office. He fled the scene on foot and hid on a grocery store shelf where he was apprehended, police said.

Investigators found a handgun inside the car that matched the shell casing found inside the dumpster where police say Reynolds’ body was burned.

Meanwhile, Walmart security footage obtained by police in San Marcos, Texas, showed the killer purchasing a plastic storage container — “identical” to the one Reynolds was later found in, a shovel and a jerry can of gas the day before Reynolds’ body was found. The footage also captured Titan with his head sticking out the window of Reynolds’ car, police said.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for of PEOPLE free True Crime newsletter for breaking news, ongoing trial coverage and details on interesting unsolved cases.

One GoFundMe Set up after her murder, Reynolds’ mother said the victim had moved from Idaho to San Marcos and was considering starting college before the murder. Daigneault contacted Reynolds, her mother says, under “false pretenses.”

This “resulted in Mandy traveling to Kansas to bring Derek to Texas for a short visit,” her mother, Karleen Hardy, wrote in the fundraiser.

Further details about the circumstances of the murder, such as the motive, have not been released.