BURTON, Mich. (WWJ) — A mother and her son have been arrested in connection with an animal cruelty case after police in Genesee County last weekend found 13 dead dogs and 44 other dogs in a single home.
Officials called the case "a tragic mix of mental health and animal neglect."
Police were called to a home in Burton around 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12, when a Your Ride driver and their passengers noticed an awful smell.
Speaking outside the home on a Facebook Live video posted Tuesday, Burton Police Chief Brian Ross said the callers told 911 that the smell “was so horrific that they thought there was a dead body in the house and the smell was permeating off the people that lived here.”
Officers responded to the home and found 13 dead dogs, with nearly four dozen other dogs living in deplorable conditions.
Ross and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson said some of the dead dogs were found in freezers, while others were on the basement floor and others were under tarps.
The dogs — mostly smaller breeds like Shih Tzus and Yorkies, according to Swanson — have been sent for a necropsy to determine their cause of death. Swanson said starvation and neglect are suspected.
Many of the living dogs were found in kennels, some “stacked three high.” Ross said the dogs that were on top were urinating and defecating on the dogs underneath.
Swanson said there is a lot of disease among the 44 rescued dogs, who have been taken in by Genesee County Animal Control for medical care.
“This was a very, very difficult police report to read,” said Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton. “You know I’ve read hundreds, if not thousands of police reports in my career. This one… was extraordinarily difficult to read."
Patricia Stone, 49, and her son were both arrested. Leyton said Tuesday the son is believed to have mental health issues, which will be explored in the courts. He said the son, whose name and age were not disclosed, will undergo a competency exam.
Leyton said the pair have been charged with two seven-year felonies — cruelty to 25 or more animals and allowing animals to suffer unnecessarily — as well as a misdemeanor count of failure to dispose of dead animals.
Leyton said there is a possibility for consecutive sentences to be stacked.
Officials said the home has been condemned.