NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) — A custody fight over a golden retriever that belonged to an estranged couple who died in a murder-suicide has apparently ended with a judge awarding the dog to the family of the man police said killed his estranged girlfriend.

Judge Thomas Devine said in Friday's ruling that Jon Chichester of East Haven was the clear owner of the dog. On Nov. 5, Chichester repeatedly shot Carole Anne Lozinski, then shot himself, police said.

Both Chichester, 33, and Lozinski, 32, had loved and cared for the dog, the judge found, but Chichester took possession of the 6-year-old Mickey when the couple split up in September. Chichester bought and paid for the dog and his license, while Lozinski had paid recent veterinary bills, the judge found.

"It is only human for many to approach this controversy with the view that equity demands at least some small recompense to the estate of the victim in the form of an award of this beloved animal," Devine said. But animals, "even beloved pets, have the status of property under Vermont law," he ruled.

After the couple split up, they met periodically so Lozinski could exercise Mickey. On the day of the shootings, Lozinski told a friend she had planned to tell Chichester she didn't want to meet any more, police said.

Since the shootings in Lyndon, about 40 miles south of the Canadian border, the dog has been in the care of the town's animal control officer.