Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Do "Dog Lovers" Starve Pets? Do Grisly Photos Reveal Inhuman Cruelty?

Episode Date: October 24, 2019

Three horrible cases of animal abuse in today's show. Dogs intentionally starved, almost to death. With Nancy Grace today to address the cruelty and the caregivers who did it: Penny Douglas Furr, laywer and animal rights advocate;  Justine Stinnett, her dog abused by a caregiver; Shawna Young,  Founder "Fight Like A Champ Animal Advocate Army Rescue";  Dr Daniel Bober,  Forensic Psychiatrist; Joe Scott Morgan, Forensics Expert, Professor of Forensics, Author,"Blood Beneath My Feet"; and Levi Page Investigative Reporter. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Today on Crime Stories, we travel to North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The rescue worker never expected she would have to rescue one of her own dogs from the foster mother that promised to take care of him. I'm so sorry. I saw him in the crate, and I don't think there's even words for how devastated I was. Joining Nancy Grace, legendary animal rights advocate Penny Douglas-Furr. Shawna Young, founder of Fight Like a Champ Animal Advocate Army Rescue.

Justine Stennett. Dr. Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist. Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert, professor of forensics and author of Blood Beneath My Feet, and Levi Page, investigative reporter for Crime Online. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Starved and deprived of water for 30 days. Pictures illustrate the abuse Champ, the Rottweiler and Mastiff mix, allegedly endured at the hands of his owner in Lawrence County. I don't know how someone could actually do that,

and I strongly feel that some people just don't deserve animals. 30-year-old Elizabeth James is charged with ill-treatment of animals after investigators say she intentionally starved the dog that belonged to an ex-boyfriend, all while feeding her own dogs. After a neighbor made a call to animal control, the dog, later renamed Champ, was brought to Sea Vets in Columbia in critical condition. He needed a blood transfusion, he needed some intensive IV fluids and electrolyte

management, he needed just calories and the natural proteins that you need to survive. On Tuesday, Champ received a visit from the Richland County Sheriff's Department bringing along toys, treats, and an orthopedic bed. We reached out to some of the vendors who we used for our sheriff's department for our canine. And of course, they jumped right on board when they saw what was going on with Champ. Doctors say Champ came in weighing 50 pounds. That's about half of what a dog his size should weigh. This evil woman allegedly starves her ex's dog,

the innocent dog, for at least 30 days while feeding her own pets, leaving the dog tied up to a tree. When Champ was found, when he was rescued, he was covered in maggots. This mastiff mix named Champ just rescued after deputies were called. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. You were just hearing our friends at WIST. That was Carolyn Heckers. It's almost too much to take in. With me, an all-star panel, Penny Douglas-Furr, Atlanta attorney, trial lawyer, and animal advocate. Justine Stennett, dog owner, Shawna Young, founder of Fight Like a Champ, animal advocate, Army Rescue, renowned forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Bober, and forensics expert, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, Joseph Scott Morgan, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon.

And right now, to CrimeOnline.com's investigative reporter, Levi Page. And of course, with me, Jackie Howard in the studio, Dave Mack by remote. Levi Page, what happened? Nancy, I have viewed the photos of Champ the dog. He's a mastiff mix and it's heartbreaking. He was basically a skeleton with fur. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you put him up on Crime Online? Jackie's saying yes. I'm looking at the photos right now. You know what? He looks like a skeleton with fur and it makes me sick. Hold on, Levi. Sorry, but Penny Douglas' fur, I'm never, well, okay, can't say never. I started to say I'm never going to complain again when I knock on your door

and your wild 200-pound animals fleeing themselves. They look like nothing but teeth and hair at the front door because I'm looking at this little guy. I just want to cry. Penny, I mean, I know you're a lawyer it's really hard to do this for all of us lawyers but in one sentence how much do you feed just one of your dogs a day oh they're well fed Nancy they get a lot of food I get those big tubes of the food that come in the refrigerated ones and they get like at least two of those every day.

Okay, now Penny Douglas-Furr, you're on cross-exam. Is it true, Miss Furr, that you have on many occasions made a peanut butter blob and fed your dogs in your own bed? That's a yes, no. Absolutely. Okay, nothing further. Absolutely. I've cooked for them. I've made treats for them. My husband makes homemade frosty paws for them.

You know what? Have you seen these pictures? Dr. Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist, joining me out of the Florida jurisdiction. Dr. Bober, get off your lounge chair by the pool and look at this picture of this dog. Levi Page said it correctly. He looks like a skeleton wearing fur. Dr. Bober, I really believe that there is a people-animal connection in that if you would do this to an innocent, helpless dog, chained to a tree,

which means she had to look out and see the dog every day, starving. You know, this morning, I started to call the dog John David. Fat boy was wagging so hard, he was wagging himself in half. And I just had to run in and heat up some chicken skin. Don't tell me how wrong it is, Penny Douglas Fur. I took the skin off a chicken to make a casserole. And I saved him everything he likes. And I heat it up and put it on top of his lamb flavored whatever that is we give him. I thought he was going to.

I mean, to me, he looked like he was smiling. And I was late to the studio. And Jackie Howard did not say a word because I was giving the dog heated up chicken skin to go with his lamb-flavored whatever it is. Dr. Bober, I really think that pets, animals, have feelings and thoughts and communicate just like we do. And if you're cruel to an animal, you would be cruel to a person. You know what, Nancy? Some people actually prefer animals more than people.

And you have to say that animals are purely defenseless, innocent creatures that give love unconditionally and give affection. And so it takes a particularly sick individual to harm an animal. So back to you, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter Levi Page. Tell me, I'm sorry we got off track, tell me again what happened. A neighbor called authorities and reported this dog. It was tied up to a tree and 30-year-old Elizabeth James from Lawrence County, South Carolina was supposed to be caring for this dog, but she was not. She was not feeding it. She was not giving it water. When it was discovered, it was unable to stand, unable to move. It was covered in maggots. It was

tied to a tree. It had not been exercised or walked, and it had to have blood transfusions. It couldn't barely even eat at first. So this is just horrible, horrible conditions, Nancy. And she did it all because she was mad at her ex-boyfriend for leaving the dog there. And it wasn't that she couldn't afford to take care of the dog. She had dogs herself. She fed those dogs. She purposely, with intent, did not feed this dog. She basically watched it starve, and that shows you just how demented she is. Well, that brings into a whole other line of thinking, because it's not like, oh, somebody gets mad and they kick the cat. This happened over a period of time, over day after day after night after night. Joining me, Shawna Young, founder of Fight Like a Champ Animal

Advocate Army Rescue. Shawna Young, weigh in. My whole thing, exactly just like you said, was that she was feeding her other dogs. It wasn't like, oh, I'm upset, I kicked the cat. It wasn't, oh, goodness gracious, I forgot to feed him for a day. I'm very close with the animal control agency and the shelter in Lawrence County, and it was just awful. Nancy, this dog's skeleton doesn't even begin to describe it. This dog weighed 39 pounds when he was found and should have weighed about 120 to 140 pounds being a Mastiff Rottweiler. My other issue is if a dog is supposed to weigh between 120 and 140 pounds

and he subsequently starved to 39 pounds, for what reason can't he just walk away? Because all of us who have lost weight, you know, our pants get too big and they fall down, right? Well, why wasn't he able to just walk out of the collar? That's because the collar kept being intentionally tightened day after day after day after day. to me because that took malice and forethought and a level of evil that I have never seen in my life before. She had to intentionally keep him on that chain to keep starving him. Before Champ went to see vets in Columbia, he was taken to Clinton Animal Hospital immediately the night that they found him. He pretty much died in the animal control officer's arms. He needed a total of four blood transfusions.

He had every kind of worm, an intestinal parasite you could possibly imagine. I just, I don't really know what to say besides evil. I feel like I'm going to start crying just thinking about what this little guy went through, you know, before my dad passed away. Oh, how he loved our pets, just loved our pets. And I remember we had a little kitty cat named Wally, and Wally passed away. My dad cried for days and days. And when, we've had so many pets at the end when my trouble

dog who i had from fifth grade through law school passed away with cancer my mom and dad were boiling him chicken and tearing it up and feeding him by hand and when i think what you just told me i didn't know that part about how how do you know Shawna Young about the allegation? She intentionally cinched the collar to keep him there. That's the only way that it could have happened. If you lose 100 pounds of your body weight, you're not going to tell me that your same belt fits you. There's just no way possible. What does this mean? They say, quote, the hookworm

burden was so high, his stomach was full of tons of tiny bleeding ulcers. His blood has to be able to regenerate itself to combat this, which it's not currently doing tons of tiny bleeding ulcers because of hookworms because he was left chained in one solitary spot and he was eating where he desiccated forced to drink water off the grass where he was laying and never given any treatment or attention that's that's how you get such a terrible infestation of worms. To Justine Stinnett joining us, dog owner. Way in, Justine. The same thing happened with the cruelty case I was involved in.

When dogs are kept in filth and their own filth, they get so many parasites, and not only are they starving for food, they're also being eaten alive by those parasites. Well, Justine is absolutely correct. Take a listen to 11 Alive Rebecca Lindstrom. It was a heartbreaking moment for Justine Stinnett. The rescue worker never expected she would have to rescue one of her own dogs from the foster mother that promised to take care of him. I saw him in the crate and I don't think there's even words for how devastated I was. I mean, I never cry and I cried like a baby.

It was horrible. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Stinnett says she started to get worried when the foster mom, who also works as a pet sitter, missed a vet appointment. At first, she says the woman refused to answer her calls to explain why, but then agreed to put Lucky out on the porch to pick up. Sorry, sweetheart. We've got to do little bits at a time. Veterinarian Lexi Mann says it could take a month for Lucky to regain back his weight and strength. His prognosis is good, but it's amazing that he hasn't had brain damage from this, from being so weak and malnourished. We are now talking to pet owner Justine Stinnett. Take a listen again to Rebecca Lindstrom. I don't understand how anyone could mistreat a dog like

this. After Stinnett posted what happened online, the animal shelter in Merriweather County reached out to her, concerned that a dog they had recently adopted to the woman might also be in danger. We went back to the house and there he was and he was stumbling. He can't see, he's blind. So mine was deaf, he was blind and she left a blind dog and a deaf dog to die and home with no food no water nothing that dog Simpson is now in the custody of Cobb County Animal Control where investigators are trying to figure out exactly when the dogs were abandoned for it to be one of our own it's devastating because you would never expect that from somebody who makes a

living taking care of animals. I mean, it's just unreal. Even more so, within the past 24 hours, it appears she has posted a new ad for pet sitting services. I have received dozens of messages from people who say they hired this woman to take care of their pets while on vacation, only to come back and find their houses reeking of urine and their dogs malnourished. Wow. Justine Stinnett, dog owner, what happened? Oh, I have to pull myself together after listening to that. I purposely do not watch that video or listen to it. So I, she was a pet sitter and I work and have been in animal rescue for a long

time. And she reached out to me asking if we had any special needs animals that she could take care of and possibly adopt and at the time I had a dog named Lucky who he was deaf and and had separation anxiety and he was a big giant love bug and I thought you know I went to her house and spoke with her in depth about how she was going to care for him and how she as a pet sitter, she was going to take him everywhere she went. He would never be alone and that she knew exactly how to care for special needs. And I trusted her. She came recommended to me by people in the community. She was fostering for another rescue at the time. She, you know, she loved animals is what I was told. And I got picture updates in the beginning. I got

updates saying that he was great. He had a stocking on the fireplace. He had presents under the tree because it was Christmas time. And she couldn't wait to finalize his adoption. She wanted to make him hers. And I told her the only way we could do that is if he was neutered and she missed his appointment to get neutered. And that's when I realized something was very wrong and come to find out after hounding her, I think it was about two days. I harassed her to the point where she finally decided she was going to give him back to me. And she left him in a crate on her back porch in the rain for over an hour because I waited in her driveway and she never showed up and sent me a text message saying

that the dog was in a crate on her back porch and to just go get him. And it had been raining in December. And when I arrived, when I got out of the car to go into the backyard, the boyfriend I had at the time started filming because he was worried we were going onto someone else's property. And that's when we got the video of me finding him and he was just bones. There was skin and bones. Just, I have heard that expression a million times in my life, but never once have I seen it that way. And it was disgusting. It was horrible. You are hearing Justine Stennett, dog owner, and she's telling the story of a pet keeper, like a pet babysitter. Take a listen to this. After investigating, an arrest warrant has now

been issued for Ashley Marie Davis of Cobb County and includes two counts of animal cruelty. Lucky the dog is healthy and enjoying the dog park today. He's currently up for adoption through Bosley's Place Animal Rescue. He probably put on another five pounds. We wouldn't be disappointed, but otherwise he's really, he's perfect, perfectly healthy. Back in December, though, this is the severely underweight Lucky Cobb County Animal Control found. Investigators discovered a second dog, Simpson, also almost starving to death. Now, Ashley Marie Davis is wanted for animal cruelty and abandonment charges by Cobb County Police. She failed to provide them adequate food and water, which led to their condition, their emaciated state.

Police determined Davis had begun fostering Lucky late last year, and the other dog, Simpson, was adopted by Davis around the same time. Since then, police have received a lot of questions from the public of why charges weren't being filed. Detectives tell 11 Alive they first needed to run extensive medical tests while allowing both dogs to regain weight. Then we put them on a maintenance schedule, and during this time we're also conducting lab reports. We're looking through the medical history to make sure that there's no reason or excuse for the animal not to gain weight. You are hearing our friends at WXIATV 11 Alive, a pet sitter accused of leaving two dogs to starve to death. For over a year, police looked for Ashley Marie Davis, a pet sitter.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Police looked for Ashley Marie Davis, a pet sitter who was accused of starving two dogs, abusing them, leaving them for dead. Finally, after arrest warrants were issued on two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, she was found. This woman, Davis, a dog sitter, advertising her services to take care of pets. I mean, to me, Dr. Daniel Bober, that's another twist. Not only did she abuse and starve the animals, two that we know of, she actually advertised herself as a loving pet sitter. Yeah, Nancy, it's like the equivalent of a child molester being a scoutmaster. I mean, it's just really sick. To Justine Stinnett, her dog involved, it's overwhelming to me that she could do this. And I'm looking at pictures of Lucky right now. What did it take to get Lucky on the road to recovery?

Oh, my goodness. I'm looking at a picture of him now, and you're right. He's skin and bones. Yeah, and truthfully, I don't think those pictures do it any justice because I look back now, and in it was it was so much worse and it took about six thousand dollars in vet bills and many months of slowly him gaining weight but there was no reason at all for him to be thin that way because he did gain and he gained properly with care i mean i'm looking at the pictures right now you can see what happened to little lucky at crime online.com

and to you joseph scott morgan professor forensics jacksonville state university and author of blood beneath my feet he looks like those halloween skeleton dogs that people put in their front yard as a decoration. He's so, he is truly, it looks like skin hanging off of a spine. That's what it looks like, this little guy. How long does it take for a dog to get in that condition? And how do you prove a case like that forensically? Well, you know, Nancy, when it doesn't just have to be a dog, any living being that's going through this kind of cycle of malnutrition, it's long and languishing. You know, a human being can live up to, for instance, for 40 days, you know, without food. You need water. But you compound that with that with say dehydration and

all these other factors. And it's, it's a recipe for disaster. Uh, keep in mind when you ingest food in your normal state, you're building up fat stores. When the body begins to starve, it literally begins to digest itself. So in a case like an animal who obviously is smaller than human, than a human, it could take say half as much time depending upon the metabolic rate of that animal. So the animal's body is literally digesting itself over a period of days, then weeks. And then of course, if they can survive out to months, then sometimes it's a miracle. And not only was he starved to the point of death, he's deaf. He can't hear.

So he's a disabled dog on top of everything else. Yes, and the other dog that she had was blind. And the night I picked Lucky up, I had no idea there was another dog involved. So while I was in her backyard picking him up, the other dog was trapped inside her house and starving still, blind, in the dark with no power, food, or water. And all she had to do was give him to me. All she had to do was tell me, hey, I have these two dogs. I can't take care of them. And I would have taken them in a heartbeat. I would have never, ever left that other dog. So she had

every intention of giving me my dog back, but leaving this other dog in this house to die. And the only way I even found out about him was a friend of hers contacted me the next day and said, just so you know, the last time I heard, she had two dogs in the house. So I went back. It was probably maybe midnight. I went back because I was over an hour away drive. So I went back to that house. And there he was in the window of all things and i called the police with the an investigator to come out and they got him out so had it not been for that one friend calling me that other dog

would be dead i'm certain of it take a listen to this also just into our newsroom room this woman right here accused of leaving two dogs to starve to death there's her mugshot ashley marie davis was arrested today in cobb county almost a year after police issued the warrants the saga of the lucky dog was uh one of the most watched stories on 11alive.com this is what he looked like december of 2016 shortly after he was rescued from davis's home police say lucky and another dog were left in her care as a foster parent. Lucky is now fully recovered. Davis is being held in the Cobb County Jail on $10,000 bond. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Sokola sex offender was set to get out of prison on Wednesday. Now he's facing more sex charges, including sexual conduct with an animal and Escambia County Sheriff's Office. Warren affidavit accuses 38 year old Joseph Filliol of raping a child under 12 years old and a family dog named Smiley. He was previously convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct with a

14-year-old victim. He was set to be released from prison on Wednesday after spending two years in prison for that crime. Now he's being held in the Escambia County Jail without bond on new charges, including three counts of sexual battery, two counts of battery on a child, and one count of engaging in sexual conduct with an animal. Okay, right when you think you've heard it all, here comes somebody like this guy, Joe Filia. You were just hearing news WKRG reporter Cody Long to Penny Douglas Furr, Atlanta trial attorney and animal advocate, forcing the little girl to watch as he sex molested the family pet. I mean, right when I think I've heard it all, this guy walks in. I mean, what can we do with him? I don't know that there's any way he could ever be rehabilitated.

He needs to stay in jail from now on. Nancy, sadly, this is common. A lot of abusers who abuse children will abuse or threaten the pets and say, you know, this is what I'm going to do, and they will show that they can hurt the pets, and they will use that to control the child. That has happened hundreds of times. It's sad how often that happens, but it is very common. You will find other cases, and I've seen so many cases that are violence to humans that started as violence to animals, and I think that we need to put a lot more emphasis on when people are charged with violence to animals because a lot of police officers feel it's beneath them. A lot of DAs don't want to deal with it.

It's just an animal. But if they don't stop it now, it moves on to humans, and people don't see the connections. But there have been studies now that are showing that connection, and they need to focus on it. You know, I was reading one of those, Penny, called A Common Bond, and it analyzes what researchers have found that violence against children frequently takes place alongside other forms of violence, including violence against animals. To Dr. Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist, explain. Well, Nancy, the same mental processes that you would use to harm a child are

the same ones that you would use to harm an animal. Basically, the common theme being that you take pleasure in power and control over living things that are defenseless and, you know, can't protect themselves. And so you obviously exploit that. Animal abuse is a type of interpersonal violence. And believe it or not, what Penny Douglas-Furr was saying is correct. It often co-occurs with child abuse and even other forms of family violence. So when you identify animal abuse, that's an incredibly valuable tool in protecting children from abuse and neglect. I didn't realize, although it really makes common sense that the two go hand in hand.

To Joe Scott Morgan, forensics expert, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. Weigh in. Yeah, you know, one of the disturbing little factors about this, Nancy, is that we see this in progression of serial perpetrators. You know, they talk about the spectrum that they kind of march along where they'll start off literally with small animals and torture them. And it's a progression. Now, it's a bit different in this because the animals in this particular case are, literally saying to her in kind of nonverbal terms, he's demonstrating it. this dog. There's even one report where she reported hearing the dog whimper during these acts, and he would actually hit this animal in the midst of having sex with it in front of this little girl. You were talking about this slide that we're on where you think that you've hit

ground floor. Man, I tell you what, it feels like we're in the basement of hell sometimes with some of these people. I've been studying this very carefully for this very moment when we speak. Statistics and research show that when children have animals in the home, they have higher self-esteem. They do better in school. It goes so far in creating a happy and healthy child. But on the other hand, when that bond between them is broken by violence in the family or by neglect, the child pays an incredible price for witnessing that violence, whether the violence is directed at a sibling a parent or a pet they develop behavioral problems

they fail academically they engage in delinquent behavior criminal behavior they are also more vulnerable to psychological problems including drug addiction and this i'm not just hypothesizing this is based on statistics and research there's a very strong consensus now amongst researchers that child neglect and abuse and animal abuse are all part are all elements of family violence systems. So when you find someone abusing the animal, look to see how the children or the spouse or the elder in the home is treated. To Dr. Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist, help me out, Bober. No, I agree, Nancy. It's sort of like what we call a surrogate marker.

If an animal is being abused or a child is being abused, either way, you have to look at the other. Because, you know, obviously it's a marker that something bigger is going on in the home. To Shawna Young, founder of Fight Like a Champ Animal Advocate Army Rescue. Shawna, I hope you're sitting down um i um volunteered at the battered women's center for nine years on the hotline and now statistics show that at the least 71 percent of battered women report their male partner had threatened or had in fact harmed or killed their pet. The survey also points to the effect on children who witness animal abuse in families. 32% of women with children report one of their children had now also committed acts of animal cruelty from witnessing typically the male, but as we see in Champ's

case, a female abusing a pet. What do you make of it, Shawna? Actually, Nancy, there's been a lot of cases recently in the last year and a half that have been perpetrated by women. That's the thing that I'm very confused by because women are supposed to be the givers of life, the nurturers, the caretakers. I just, I have no idea why, but it is very common. I know that a study out of Rutgers University says somewhere around 83% of domestic violence sufferers, also their pet was targeted we speak to that when we go to county council meetings we to try to persuade county councils to you know initiate stiffer

penalties for animal abusers and tethering ordinances we try to speak on animal abuse and collateral crime it's a it's a very comorbid issue, very comorbid issue. You know, Penny Douglas, for not only trial lawyer and animal advocate, but longtime personal friend, believe it or not, we met over a case and you know he was guilty, he was so guilty. And as a matter of fact, I proved that, as I recall, because he spit on his rape victim. And we got the spit, and we did a DNA match. Wasn't that that case, Penny? Oh, I remember that case, Nancy.

Oh, yeah, okay, so I was right. Good times, good times. I feel like crying, Penny, because, listen to this. As you were saying, that's why I'm coming back to you on this, the studies show that animals, pets, are used by perpetrators to coerce children into silence. The threat of animal abuse to silence child sex abuse has been a factor in many criminal convictions. And we have seen courts in Maine and Idaho and others affirm child sex abuse convictions, noting the defendant had also threatened and even killed animals in front of the child victim. Nancy, the man who just did the mass killing in Ohio, two weeks before he did the mass killing, he was sitting on a roof shooting and killing

animals. If he had been arrested for that and charged with animal cruelty, they could have made it a part of his bond to take those guns away. And then all of those people would not have been killed. I'm thinking about the effect, and I'm sure there's not enough study. Guys, I've learned a lot about this from the Humane Society organization, the humanesociety.org, and I specifically studied in preparation for today's program something called

A Common Bond. And it examines, it's by Mary Lou Randauer and Howard Davidson. That's between the Humane Society and the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law. And it talks about maltreated children and animals in the home. And I'm just thinking about the effect that seeing animals mistreated has on children. You know the first thing the children see in the morning penny you know my little babies the first thing they see is me bring them yes they get breakfast in bed it is a fruit drink

that I make by hand and then they see me taking care of those two little fat poop monsters my guinea pigs abby and chloe that's the first thing they see is somebody taking care of pets and cleaning their cage and giving them their hay and their water and their treats first thing 7 a.m in the morning while you're having your latte penny douglas for I'm shoveling guinea pig poop. And then they see the cat being taken care of and the dog being taken care of. And I wonder how that affects them. Penny, have you actually seen cases where the child is threatened with abuse of their pet? Oh, absolutely. As a matter of fact, I've seen cases where the wife was being abused and she and the children were afraid to leave because the abuser was threatening the animals.

One, a case that I worked on, the wife and kids had even left and they came back home and found the dog dead in the middle of the floor and many of them hesitate because most of the shelters will not take pets and they're afraid to leave the abuser and leave the animals at home because they'll get exactly what my client did they'll come home to a dead dog oh that hurts me so much you know to this day yeah i also credit penny douglas for with helping me find my cat coco penny i almost got a divorce over that cat it was actually right oh yeah it was right before uh i married david and i'd had coco who i took in as a stray he was being starved and um had him for 18 years. And David, I was living in, I of course

was living in New York at the time. David had the cat in Atlanta and was doing some remodeling. And I said, before you start the remodeling, get the cat out and board him at the vet for just a week or so and then bring him back. Well, David let the cat get away and they started the remodeling and the cat ran away. And I called Penny Douglas Fur from Washington, D.C. I was about to do the Larry King show. In tears, I sent her a picture I had on my phone of the cat. She went all over the neighborhood, put up posters, solid black cat, green eyes, answers to name Coco, does not have a tail, reward. So we found the cat about three blocks as the crow flies away at Miss Jane Baird's house.

And she answered Penny's poster. And she said, well, you can come get him. But right now I'm sauteing him some shrimp and she had renamed him mr kitty well i can tell you this david lynch lived in the doghouse for quite some time after that i want to circle back to the story about champ tashana young founder fight like a champ animal advocate how How is Champ doing? Because when it first started, they thought that they couldn't save him. Champ is actually doing fantastic. After he was medically stable, he was taken to a foster home in Alabama. And then he was adopted

by a family, I believe, that lives in Maryland or Delaware. And he's riding around in a fancy car and swimming in a swimming pool and he is a big beautiful fat boy just like he always should have been you know that's my dog's name fat boy and for a reason for a reason i'm just and what happened to the evil person that had him chained up to a tree starving him on purpose well the evil person that had him chained to the tree starving was initially just written a ticket oh you know expletive ticket i can't even say the word but a ticket so that's how like a camp kind of got started was i was just so infuriated that the only thing that happened was a ticket so i I just started posting, you know what, I'm tired of this, I'm tired of this.

And the next day, 1,500 people were also tired of it. She still hasn't concluded her trial yet. The powers that be in Lawrence County are making it very, very hard for us to follow the case. Well, wait a minute. So it was just a ticket, but was it ever upgraded to a different charge? Yes, ma'am, it was. Such as animal cruelty? Yes, ma'am, it was upgraded to animal cruelty.

The Fight Like a Champ Animal Advocate Army, 4,600 strong. We did a bombardment email campaign to the Lawrence County Solicitor's Office and the Sheriff's Office, and her charge was upgraded to a felony. She was indicted by the grand jury. It hasn't concluded yet, though. If you want to be involved in the case of this horribly mistreated and abused pet, Champ, please contact the Lawrence County Solicitor's Office. That phone number is 864-984-2202. Repeat, 864-984-2202. Their their address 100 hillcrest square lawrence south carolina 29360 100 hillcrest square

lawrence south carolina 29360 the solicitor i'm looking at him right now, it's like real law and justice kind of guy. David M. as in Mother Stumbo. S-T-U-M as in Mother B. Brother O. David M. Stumbo of the 8th Judicial Circuit. Let's see what happens now. You can go to Fight Like a Champ on Facebook to find out the latest. I'm looking at it right now. If you want Justice for Champ and other animals, go to the website and please contact the South Carolina solicitor in Lawrence County, David M. Stumbo. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off.

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