Join us in seeking justice for a deceased Mississippi woman, Patty, and her five dogs, who were shot and killed by a relative right after she passed away, despite offers from her friends and her neighbor to help care for them.
The deceased’s neighbor, C.M., hadn’t been able to make contact with her good friend one Wednesday near the end of March and asked the sheriff’s department to conduct a wellness check. She didn’t hear back from the department because it was required to let the next of kin know, but the deceased’s twin sister was informed instead and that woman contacted C.M. the same day and nonchalantly informed her that her friend had passed away and that she was headed to the house right then with her husband.
When C.M. mentioned the five indoor dogs and the five outdoor cats that she and our Justice for Animals’ Senior Campaigner Doll Stanley, who also knew the deceased, would take in and care for, the response was the animals “should have been taken care of years ago.” C.M. went by after work that day to offer support and reiterate her concerns about the animal companions. The sister, her husband, and another man were all there. The dogs were not inside anymore, and it was assumed that they had been put outside, not that anything bad had happened to them.
The next day, Thursday, C.M. and her daughter-in-law wanted to go by the house and pick up a few of C.M.’s personal items that she had loaned Patty and while there, they only saw one dog running around, a tan and white mixed breed dog. The brother-in-law was there too and claimed that one dog, a border collie, had been struck in the road and killed. This was the dog who C.M. had expressed an interest in adopting.
Within days of the family’s arrival and throughout their days-long visit, they made it clear they didn’t really want anyone around, and C.M. was mysteriously told the dogs “were taken care of.”
C.M.’s daughter-in-law, who used to work at our Hope Animal Sanctuary, stepped in to help look for the missing dogs. On that Saturday, she saw buzzards circling and going into the wooded area on the edge of the property. When she investigated, she found the dog C.M. had wanted to adopt dead from having been shot, meaning that the brother-in-law had lied about the dog getting hit by a car.
Doll Stanley went with C.M.’s daughter-in-law on the following Tuesday to try to locate the dogs. There had been lots of rain recently, making searching the woods thoroughly difficult. The body of the tan and white dog who had still been alive on Thursday was located because buzzards were circling there as well.
While the five cats are now safely at C.M.’s, it’s believed the other three dogs were also shot and killed.
A couple of weeks later in mid-April, Doll met with the officer who had responded to the wellness check request. He said he would have loved to have taken one of the dogs, a 17-year-old dog. He recalled how the brother-in-law had said he would take care of the dogs and wished he had caught on to the negative insinuation.
Stanley also spoke with the deputy who had taken her report. He had fostered animals for Hope Animal Sanctuary in the past. The officer and the deputy were both thoroughly appalled.
Sheriff David Gore then spoke with Doll Stanley and expressed his intent to have the case investigated. Let’s respectfully show him how seriously we take this crime. Since the remains of only two dogs were discovered, there may only be two charges, but hopefully, the brother-in-law will serve justice for the five precious dogs who were hatefully and senselessly slain.