Sarah E. McBride told police that she noticed the dead cat in the middle of her floor, but she didn't have any money to bury it, so she left it on the floor.
Jackson County prosecutors charged the 39-year-old from Independence yesterday with 17 counts of animal abuse.
Court documents say McBride abandoned 18 cats and a dog in a house at 1110 E. Pacific in Independence in April 2009. McBride told detectives that the house still had a little water pressure
left so she took the toilet tank lid off and lifted the toilet seat so
the animals would have water.
McBride told police that a heart condition hospitalized her during
the first week of April 2009. She added that her gas utility had been shut
off in November 2008, and she had to use an electrical heater to keep her
house warm. Then in April 2009, she her electric and water were shut
off.
McBride claimed that her vehicle had been stolen and she'd lost her
job. She told detectives that she had been staying with friends and family since abandoning the house. She also claimed that friends were feeding the animals.
Independence police discovered the animals after a neighbor complained about a foul odor coming from the house.
Officers noticed a pile of newspapers on the front porch. The mail had
piled up to the point that ants had laid eggs in the mailbox.
From
a window, they could see a dead cat lying on the living room floor as
well numerous cats and a dog. The officers conducted a welfare check to
see if McBride was in the residence since a neighbor hadn't seen her in
at least a month. McBride wasn't home.
Inside the home, the floors, counter tops and furniture were all covered with trash and animal feces.
Animal control took nine live cats and a dog were taken from the house.
They were all malnourished, dehydrated and infested with fleas. Animal
control also removed four dead cats from the home. Four other cats ran
away.
The animals had no food or water. The toilet was even empty of water.
On August 17, McBride answered a call from animal control and turned over three more cats to the shelter.
McBride told an animal control officer that she was "a licensed veterinary tech."
One
of the cats recovered from the home died on the night of August 18,
bringing the total of dead cats to five plus one that was euthanized.
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