Authorities: Decapitated dogs in western Colorado were hit by train, but may have been dead already

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — Authorities say a family's young pit bull dogs that were found decapitated on railroad tracks in western Colorado were hit by a freight train.

Mesa County sheriff's investigators say a Union Pacific conductor reported seeing the two dead dogs intact on the tracks April 19 but couldn't stop the train in time.

The sheriff's office is asking for the public's help figuring out how the dogs died and how they got on the train tracks. The dogs were found dead in the community of Orchard Mesa, next to Grand Junction.