A road-rage incident in which an off-duty Pittsburgh police detective was the victim inadvertently led investigators to the carcass of a dog dressed in human clothing in the same Stanton Heights neighborhood.

Police yesterday were in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant for the man in the road-rage episode.

Investigators did not make a connection between that incident and the case of the dead dog, which was bludgeoned and stabbed. Someone put blue jeans, a T-shirt, socks, shoes and a ball cap on the animal.

Lt. Kevin Kraus, who discovered the dog on the rear porch of a home in the 900 block of Oranmore Street, described the killing as bizarre and horrific.

"I've never seen anything like it," Lt. Kraus said. "I don't know anyone who has."

The incident began around 7:30 a.m. Monday when Detective Matthew Cornwall was driving to work at police headquarters on the North Side in his private vehicle.

Lt. Kraus said the driver of a vehicle ahead of the detective abruptly cut him off on Oranmore Street, got out of his car and threatened Detective Cornwall.

The man retrieved an object from his car. Detective Cornwall got out, identified himself as a police officer and displayed his badge. The two men exchanged discharges of pepper spray, Lt. Kraus said.

The man got away, but later showed up at a hospital. Lt. Kraus said the detective was not carrying handcuffs and decided it would have been too dangerous to try to make an arrest while alone.

Lt. Kraus returned to the scene to investigate. While there, he said he noticed the stench of rotting flesh and a large number of flies at the residence.

In the back, Lt. Kraus at first thought he was dealing with a child or small person who had been shot in the head. But further examination showed that someone had killed a dog -- possibly a boxer-pit bull mix -- and then dressed it.

The Allegheny County medical examiner's office took X-rays that showed the dog had not been shot, Lt. Kraus said. Based on the dog's decomposition, Lt. Kraus estimated it had been dead for at least a week.

"It appears whoever committed this crime did it with a great deal of passion," Lt. Kraus said. "It's obvious they did that to send a pretty clear message."

Lt. Kraus gained entry to the house and said he found that the front and back doors had been barricaded with all sorts of furniture. Several marijuana plants were found growing in the rear of the property. Lt. Kraus said there was a history of domestic problems inside the house, and he speculated that the barricades were related to that.

Yesterday afternoon, police made contact with the resident of the home. Electricity had been shut off recently, and the house has not been habitable since April 18.