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

0:05
Speaker 1: Today on Crime Stories, we traveled to North Carolina, Georgia,
0:09
Speaker 1: and Florida. The rescue worker never expected she would have
0:11
Speaker 1: to rescue one of her own dogs from the foster
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Speaker 1: mother that promised to take care of him. Also, I
0:20
Speaker 1: saw him in the crate, and I don't think there's
0:22
Speaker 1: even words for how devastated I was. Joining Nancy Grace,
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Speaker 1: legendary animal rights advocate, Penny Douglas, fir Shanna Young, founder
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Speaker 1: of Fight Like a Champ, animal advocate, Army Rescue, Justine Stennett,
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Speaker 1: doctor Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist, Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert,
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Speaker 1: professor of forensics and author of Blood Beneath My Feet
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Speaker 1: and Leave Page, investigative reporter for Crime Online Crime Stories
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Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace, starved and deprived of water for thirty days.
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Speaker 1: Pictures illustrate the abuse Champ, the rottweilder and massiff mix,
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Speaker 1: allegedly endured at the hands of his owner in Lawrence County.
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Speaker 1: You know, I don't know how someone could actually do that,
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Speaker 1: and you know, I strongly feel that some people just
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Speaker 1: don't deserve animals. Thirty year old Elizabeth James is charged
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Speaker 1: with ill treatment of animals after investigators say she intentionally
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Speaker 1: served the dog that belonged to an ex boyfriend, all
1:34
Speaker 1: while feeding her own dogs. After a neighbor made a
1:37
Speaker 1: call to animal control, the dog, later renamed Champ, was
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Speaker 1: brought to Sea Vets in Colombia in critical condition. He
1:44
Speaker 1: needed a blood transfusion, he needed some intensive ABBE fluids
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Speaker 1: and electrol management. He needed just calories in the natural
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Speaker 1: proteins that you need to survive. On Tuesday, Champ received
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Speaker 1: a visit from the Richland County Sheriff's Department, bringing along toys, treats,
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Speaker 1: and an orthopedic bed. And we reached out to some
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Speaker 1: of the vendors who that we used for our Sheriff's
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Speaker 1: department for our canine, and of course they jumped right
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Speaker 1: on board when they saw what was going on with
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Speaker 1: the Champ. Doctors say Champ came in weighing fifty pounds,
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Speaker 1: that's about half of what a dog his size should wear.
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Speaker 1: This evil woman allegedly starves her ex's dog, the innocent dog,
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Speaker 1: for at least thirty days while feeding her own pets,
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Speaker 1: leaving the dog tied up to a tree when Champ
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Speaker 1: was found. When he was rescued, he was covered in maggots.
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Speaker 1: This massive mix named Champ just rescued after deputies were called.
2:46
Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. You were just
2:49
Speaker 1: hearing our friends at WIST. That was Carolyn Heckers. It's
2:53
Speaker 1: almost too much to take in with me an all
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Speaker 1: star panel. Penny Douglas, fur Atlanta attorney, trial lawyer and
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Speaker 1: animal advocate Justine Stinnett, dog owner Shawn A Young Founder
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Speaker 1: a fight like a Champ, animal advocate, Army Rescue, renowned
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Speaker 1: forensics psychiatrist doctor Daniel bober and forensics expert, Professor Forensics,
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Speaker 1: Jacksonville State University. Joseph Scott Morgan, author of Blood Beneath
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Speaker 1: My Feet on Amazon and right now to Crime online
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Speaker 1: dot COM's investigative reporter Levi Paige, and of course with
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Speaker 1: me Jackie Howard in the studio Dave mack By remote
3:34
Speaker 1: Levi page. What happened, Nancy? I have viewed the photos
3:38
Speaker 1: of Champ the dog. He's a massive mix and it's heartbreaking.
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Speaker 1: He was basically a skeleton with Okay, wait, wait, wait
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Speaker 1: wait did you put him up on Crime Online? Jackie's
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Speaker 1: saying yes, I'm looking at the photos right now. Do
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Speaker 1: you know what. He looks like a skeleton with fur,
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Speaker 1: and it makes me sick. Hold on, leave. Sorry, but
4:00
Speaker 1: Penny Douglas Fur, I'm never well. Okay, can't say never.
4:04
Speaker 1: I started to say, I'm never going to complain again.
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Speaker 1: When I knock on your door and you're wild two
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Speaker 1: hundred pound animals fleeing themselves, they look like nothing but
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Speaker 1: teeth and hair at the front door. Because I'm looking
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Speaker 1: at this little guy, I just want to cry, Penny.
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Speaker 1: I mean, I know you're a lawyer. It's really hard
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Speaker 1: to do this for all of us lawyers. But in
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Speaker 1: one sentence, how much do you feed just one of
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Speaker 1: your dogs a day? Oh, they're well fed, Nancy. They
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Speaker 1: get a lot of food. I get those big tubes
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Speaker 1: of the food that come in the refrigerated ones, and
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Speaker 1: they get like at least two of those every day. Okay, Now,
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Speaker 1: Penny Douglas Fur, you're on cross exam. Is it true,
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Speaker 1: miss Fur, that you have, on many occasions made a
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Speaker 1: peanut butter blob and fed your dogs in your own bed.
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Speaker 1: That's a yes, No, Okay, nothing further. Absolutely, I've cooked
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Speaker 1: for them. I've made treats for them. My husband makes
5:07
Speaker 1: homemade frosty paws for them. You know what have you
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Speaker 1: seen these pictures? Doctor Daniel Bober, forensics psychiatrist, join me
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Speaker 1: out of the Florida jurisdiction, Doctor Bober, get off your lounge,
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Speaker 1: cheer by the pool and look at this picture of
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Speaker 1: this dog. Leave a page. Said it correctly. He looks
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Speaker 1: like a skeleton wearing fur, doctor Bober. I really believe
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Speaker 1: that there is a people animal connection in that if
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Speaker 1: you would do this to an innocent, helpless dog, chain
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Speaker 1: to a tree, which means she had to look out
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Speaker 1: and see the dog every day starving. You know, this
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Speaker 1: morning John started to call the dog John David fat
5:50
Speaker 1: boy was wagging so hard he was wagging himself in half.
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Speaker 1: And I just had to run in and heat up
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Speaker 1: some chicken skin. Don't tell me how wrong it is,
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Speaker 1: Penny Douglas fur. I took the skin off a chicken
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Speaker 1: to make a casserole, and I saved him everything he likes,
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Speaker 1: and I heat it up and put it on top
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Speaker 1: of his lam flavored whatever that is we give him.
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Speaker 1: I thought he was going to I mean to me,
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Speaker 1: he looked like he was smiling. And I was late
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Speaker 1: to the studio when Jackie Howard did not say a
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Speaker 1: word because I was giving the dog heated up chicken
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Speaker 1: skin to go with his lamb flavored whatever it is.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Bober, I really think that pets, animals have feelings
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Speaker 1: and thoughts and communicate just like we do. And if
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Speaker 1: you're cruel to an animal, you would be cruel to
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Speaker 1: a person. You know what, Nancy, Some people actually prefer
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Speaker 1: animals more than people. And you have to say that
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Speaker 1: animals are purely defenseless, innocent creatures that give love unconditionally
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Speaker 1: and give affection, and so it takes a particularly sick
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Speaker 1: individual to harm an animal. So back to you Crime
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Speaker 1: online dot Com investigative reporter Levi Page. Tell me, I'm
7:01
Speaker 1: sorry we got off track. Tell me again what happened.
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Speaker 1: A neighbor called authorities and reported this dog. It was
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Speaker 1: tied up to a tree, and thirty year old Elizabeth
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Speaker 1: James from Lawrence County, South Carolina, was supposed to be
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Speaker 1: caring for this dog, but she was not. She was
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Speaker 1: not feeding it, she was not giving it water. When
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Speaker 1: it was discovered it was unable to stand, unable to move,
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Speaker 1: It was covered in maggots. It was tied to a tree.
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Speaker 1: It had not been exercised or walked, and it had
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Speaker 1: to have blood transfusions. It couldn't barely even eat at first.
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Speaker 1: So this is just horrible, horrible conditions Nancy, and she
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Speaker 1: did it all because she was mad at her ex
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Speaker 1: boyfriend for leaving the dog there. And it wasn't that
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Speaker 1: she couldn't afford to take care of the dog. She
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Speaker 1: had dogs herself. She fed those dogs. She purposely, with intent,
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Speaker 1: did not feed this dog. She basically watched it starve in.
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Speaker 1: That shows you just how demented she is. Well, that
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Speaker 1: brings into a whole other line of thinking, because it's
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Speaker 1: not like, oh, somebody gets mad and they kicked the cat.
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Speaker 1: This happened over a period of time, over day after
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Speaker 1: day after night after night. Joining me, Shaun a Young
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Speaker 1: found her a fight like a champ Animal Advocate, Army
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Speaker 1: Rescue Shawn a Young weight in. My whole thing, exactly
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Speaker 1: just like you said, was that she was feeding her
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Speaker 1: other dogs. It wasn't like, oh, I'm upset I kicked
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Speaker 1: the cat. It wasn't oh goodness, gracious, I forgot to
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Speaker 1: feed him for a day. I'm very close with the
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Speaker 1: Animal Control Agency and the shelter in Lawrence, County, and
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Speaker 1: it was just awful, Nancy. This dog skeleton doesn't even
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Speaker 1: begin to describe it. This dog weighed thirty nine pounds
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Speaker 1: when he was found and should have weighed about one
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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty two one hundred and forty pounds nm
9:00
Speaker 1: massive Rottweiler. My other issue is if a dog is
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Speaker 1: supposed to weigh between one hundred and twenty one hundred
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Speaker 1: and forty pounds and he subsequently starved to thirty nine pounds,
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Speaker 1: for what reason? Can't he just walk away? Because all
9:18
Speaker 1: of us who have lost weight, you know, our pants
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Speaker 1: get too big and they fall down right, Well, why
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Speaker 1: wasn't he able to just walk out of the collar.
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Speaker 1: That's because the collar kept being intentionally tightened day after
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Speaker 1: day after day after day. That is the most disturbing
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Speaker 1: part to me, because that took malice and forethought and
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Speaker 1: a level of evil that I have never seen in
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Speaker 1: my life before. She had to intentionally keep him on
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Speaker 1: that chain to keep starving him. Before Champ went to
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Speaker 1: Sea Bets in Colombia, he was taken to Clinton Animal
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Speaker 1: Hospital immediately the night that they found him. He pretty
10:00
Speaker 1: much died in the animal control officer's arms. He needed
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Speaker 1: a total of four blood transfusions. He had every kind
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Speaker 1: of worm, an intestinal parasite you could possibly imagine. I
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Speaker 1: just I don't really know what to say besides evil.
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Speaker 1: I feel like I'm going to start crying just thinking
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Speaker 1: about what this little guy went through. You know, before
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Speaker 1: my dad passed away, Oh, how he loved our pets,
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Speaker 1: just loved our pets. And I remember we had a
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Speaker 1: little kiddie cat named Wally, and Wally passed away. My
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Speaker 1: dad cried for days and days. And when we've had
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Speaker 1: so many pets. At the end, when my trouble dog,
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Speaker 1: who I had from fifth grade through law school passed
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Speaker 1: away with cancer, my mom and dad were boiling him
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Speaker 1: chicken and tearing it up and feeding him by hand.
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Speaker 1: And when I think what you just told me, I
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Speaker 1: didn't know that part about how how do you know
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Speaker 1: seany young about the allegation she intentionally sensed the collar
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Speaker 1: to keep him there. That's the only way that it
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Speaker 1: could have happened. If you lose one hundred pounds of
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Speaker 1: your body weight, You're not going to tell me that
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Speaker 1: your same belt fits you. There's just no way possible.
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Speaker 1: What does this mean? They say, what the hookworm burden
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Speaker 1: was so high. His stomach was full of tons of
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Speaker 1: tiny bleeding ulcers. His blood has to be able to
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Speaker 1: regenerate itself to combat this, which it's not currently doing.
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Speaker 1: Tons of tiny bleeding ulcers because of hookworms. Because he
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Speaker 1: was left chained in one solitary spot and he was
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Speaker 1: eating where he desiccated, forced to drink water off the
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Speaker 1: grass where he was laying, and never given any treatment
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Speaker 1: or attention. That's how you get such a terrible wind
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Speaker 1: the station and warned to Justine Stinnett joining us. Dog
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Speaker 1: owner White and Justine, the same thing happened with the
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Speaker 1: Gruelty case I was involved in. When dogs are kept
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Speaker 1: in self and their own self, it's they get so
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Speaker 1: many parasites and not only are they starving for food,
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Speaker 1: they're also being eaten alive by those parasites. Well, Justine
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Speaker 1: is absolutely correct. Take a listen to eleven Alive Rebecca Lustrum.
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Speaker 1: It was a heartbreaking moment for Justine Stinnett, the rescue
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Speaker 1: worker never expected she would have to rescue one of
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Speaker 1: her own dogs from the foster mother that promised to
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Speaker 1: take care of him. Yes, I saw him in the crate,
12:48
Speaker 1: and I don't think there's even words for how devastated
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Speaker 1: I was. I mean, I never cry, and I cried
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Speaker 1: like a baby. It was horrible. Crime Stories with Nancy
13:10
Speaker 1: Grace Stinet says she started to get worried when the
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Speaker 1: foster mom, who also works as a pet sitter, missed
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Speaker 1: a VETT appointment. At first, she says, the woman refused
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Speaker 1: to answer her calls to explain why, but then agreed
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Speaker 1: to put Lucky out on the porch to pick up. Sorry, sweetheart,
13:33
Speaker 1: we got to do a little bits at a time.
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Speaker 1: Veterinarian Lexi Nan says it could take a month for
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Speaker 1: Lucky to regain back his weight and strength because prognosis
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Speaker 1: is good. But it's amazing that he hasn't had brain
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Speaker 1: damage from this, from being so weak and malnourished. We
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Speaker 1: are now talking to pet owner Justin Stinnett. Take a
13:55
Speaker 1: listen again to Rebecca Instrument. I don't understand how anyone
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Speaker 1: could mistreat a dog like us. After stint It posted
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Speaker 1: what happened online, the animal Shelter and Merriweather County reached
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Speaker 1: out to her concern that a dog they had recently
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Speaker 1: adopted to the woman might also be in danger. We
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Speaker 1: went back to the house, and there he was and
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Speaker 1: he was stumbling. He can't see. He's blind, so mine
14:16
Speaker 1: was deaf. He was blind. And she left a blind
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Speaker 1: dog and a deaf dog to die in a home
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Speaker 1: with no food, no water, nothing. That dog, Simpson is
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Speaker 1: now in the custody of Cog County Animal Control, where
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Speaker 1: investigators are trying to figure out exactly when the dogs
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Speaker 1: were abandoned. For it to be one of our own,
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Speaker 1: it's devastating because you would never expect that from somebody
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Speaker 1: who makes a living taking care of animals. I mean,
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Speaker 1: it's just unreal. Even more so within the past twenty
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Speaker 1: four hours, it appears she's posted a new ad for
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Speaker 1: pet sitting services. I have received dozens of messages from
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Speaker 1: people who say they hired this woman to take care
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Speaker 1: of their pets while on vacation, only to come back
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Speaker 1: and find their houses reeking of urine and their dogs malnourished. Wow,
15:00
Speaker 1: Justine Stidant dog owner, what happened? Oh? I have to
15:04
Speaker 1: pull myself together after listening to that. I purposely do
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Speaker 1: not watch that video or listen to it. So I
15:10
Speaker 1: she was a pet sitter and I work and have
15:14
Speaker 1: been an animal rescue for a long time, and she
15:16
Speaker 1: reached out to me asking if we had any special
15:19
Speaker 1: needs animals that she could take care of and possibly adopt.
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Speaker 1: And at the time, I had a dog named Lucky
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Speaker 1: who he was deaf and had separation anxiety, and he
15:32
Speaker 1: was a big, giant love bug, and I thought, you know,
15:36
Speaker 1: I went to her house and spoke with her in
15:39
Speaker 1: depth about how she was going to care for him
15:41
Speaker 1: and how she as a print center. She was going
15:43
Speaker 1: to take him everywhere she went, he would never be alone,
15:47
Speaker 1: and that she knew exactly how to care for special
15:50
Speaker 1: needs and I trusted her. She came recommended to me
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Speaker 1: by people in the community. She was fostering for another
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Speaker 1: rescue at the time. She you know, she loved animals,
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Speaker 1: is what I was told, and I got picture updates
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Speaker 1: from the beginning. I got update saying that he was great.
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Speaker 1: He had a stocking on the fireplace, he had presence
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Speaker 1: under the tree. Because it was Christmas time and she
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Speaker 1: couldn't wait to finalize his adoption. She wanted to make
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Speaker 1: him hers and I told her it's the only way
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Speaker 1: we could do that is if he was utered, and
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Speaker 1: she missed his appointment to get utered, and that's when
16:29
Speaker 1: I realized something was very wrong and come to find
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Speaker 1: out after pounding her, I think it was about two days.
16:36
Speaker 1: I harassed her to the point where she finally decided
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Speaker 1: she was going to give him back to me, and
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Speaker 1: she left him in a crate on her back porch
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Speaker 1: in the rain for over an hour because I waited
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Speaker 1: in her drivewing and she never showed up and sent
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Speaker 1: me a text message saying that the dog was in
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Speaker 1: a crate on her back porch and to just go
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Speaker 1: get him. And it had been raining in December, and
16:58
Speaker 1: when I arrived, when I got out of the car
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Speaker 1: to go into the backyard, the boyfriend I had at
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Speaker 1: the time started filming because he was worried we were
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Speaker 1: going on to someone else's property. And that's when we
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Speaker 1: got the video of me finding him. And he was
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Speaker 1: just bones. There was skin and bones. Just I have
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Speaker 1: heard that expression a million times in my life, but
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Speaker 1: never once have I seen it that way. And it
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Speaker 1: was disgusting. It was horrible. You are hearing just stain Stinnett,
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Speaker 1: dog owner, and she's telling the story of a pet
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Speaker 1: keeper like a pet babysitter. Take a listen to this.
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Speaker 1: After investigating and a rest warrant has now been issued
17:39
Speaker 1: for Ashley Marie Davis of Cobb County and includes two
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Speaker 1: counts of animal cruelty. Lucky the dog is healthy and
17:46
Speaker 1: enjoying the dog park today. He's currently up for adoption
17:49
Speaker 1: through Bosley's Place Animal Rescue. He probably put on another
17:52
Speaker 1: five pounds. We wouldn't be disappointed, but otherwise he's really
17:55
Speaker 1: he's perfect, perfectly healthy. Back in December, though, this is
17:58
Speaker 1: the severely underweight Lucky Cobb County Animal Control found. Investigators
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Speaker 1: discovered a second dog, Simpson, also almost starving to death. Now,
18:06
Speaker 1: Ashley Marie Davis has wanted for animal cruelty and abandonment
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Speaker 1: charges by Cobb County Police. She failed to provide them
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Speaker 1: adequate food and water, which led to their condition their emaciated.
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Speaker 1: State Police determined Davis had begun fostering Lucky late last
18:20
Speaker 1: year and the other dog, Simpson, was adopted by Davis
18:23
Speaker 1: around the same time. Since then, police have received a
18:25
Speaker 1: lot of questions from the public of white charges weren't
18:28
Speaker 1: being filed detectives until eleven alive. They first needed to
18:31
Speaker 1: run extensive medical tests while allowing both dogs to regain weight.
18:36
Speaker 1: Then we put them on a maintenance schedule, and during
18:38
Speaker 1: this time, we're also conducting lab reports. We're looking through
18:42
Speaker 1: the medical history to make sure that there's no reason
18:45
Speaker 1: or excuse for the animal not to gain weight. You're
18:47
Speaker 1: hearing our friends at wx IATV eleven alive a pitt
18:51
Speaker 1: sitter accused of leaving two dogs to starve to death.
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Speaker 1: For over a year, police looked for Ashley Marie Davis,
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Speaker 1: a pet senter. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, police looked
19:24
Speaker 1: for Ashley Marie Davis, a pet sitter who was accused
19:30
Speaker 1: of starving two dogs, abusing them, leaving them for dead. Finally,
19:37
Speaker 1: after arrest, warrants were issued on two counts of aggravated
19:41
Speaker 1: cruelty to animals, she was found this woman Davis, a
19:46
Speaker 1: dog sitter, advertising her services to take care of pets.
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Speaker 1: I mean to me, doctor Daniel Bober. That's another twist.
19:55
Speaker 1: Not only did she abuse and starve the animals too
19:59
Speaker 1: that we know, she actually advertised herself as a loving
20:03
Speaker 1: pet center. Yeah, Nancy, it's like the equivalent of you know,
20:06
Speaker 1: a child molester being a scout master. I mean, it's
20:09
Speaker 1: just really sick to Justine Stinnett, her dog involved. It's
20:15
Speaker 1: overwhelming to me that she could do this, and I'm
20:20
Speaker 1: looking at pictures. I'm lucky right now. What did it
20:23
Speaker 1: take to get Lucky on the road to recovery? Oh
20:26
Speaker 1: my goodness, I'm looking at a picture of him now,
20:29
Speaker 1: and you're right he's skin and burns. Yeah, And truthfully,
20:33
Speaker 1: I don't think those pictures do it any justice because
20:36
Speaker 1: I look back now and in person it was it
20:41
Speaker 1: was so much worse. And it took about six thousand
20:46
Speaker 1: dollars in vet bills and many months of slowly him
20:52
Speaker 1: gaining weight. But there was no reason at all for
20:56
Speaker 1: him to beef him that way because she did gain
21:00
Speaker 1: and he gained properly with care. I mean, I'm looking
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Speaker 1: at the pictures right now. You can see what happened
21:06
Speaker 1: to a little Lucky at crime online dot Com and
21:09
Speaker 1: to you. Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, jacksonvill State University
21:13
Speaker 1: and author of Blood Beneath My Feet. He looks like
21:16
Speaker 1: those Halloween skeleton dogs that people put in their front
21:19
Speaker 1: yard as a decoration. He's so he is, truly, it
21:25
Speaker 1: looks like skin hanging off of a spine. That's that's
21:28
Speaker 1: what it looks like. This little guy. How long does
21:31
Speaker 1: it take for a dog to get in that condition.
21:34
Speaker 1: And how do you prove a case like that forensically, Well,
21:38
Speaker 1: you know, Nancy, when when it doesn't just have to
21:41
Speaker 1: be a dog, any any living any living being that's
21:45
Speaker 1: going through this kind of cycle of malnutrition. Uh, it can.
21:49
Speaker 1: It's long and languishing. You know, a human being can
21:52
Speaker 1: live up to, for instance, for forty days. You know,
21:55
Speaker 1: without food you need water. But you you compound that
22:00
Speaker 1: with say dehydration and all these other factors, and it's
22:04
Speaker 1: a recipe for disaster. Keep in mind, when you ingest
22:09
Speaker 1: food in your normal state, you're building up fat stores.
22:13
Speaker 1: When a body begins to starve, it literally begins to
22:16
Speaker 1: digest itself. So in a case like an animal who
22:19
Speaker 1: obviously is smaller than human, than a human, it could
22:23
Speaker 1: take say half as much time, depended upon the metabolic
22:26
Speaker 1: rate of that animal. So the animal's body is literally
22:30
Speaker 1: digesting itself over a period of days than weeks. And
22:33
Speaker 1: then of course if they can survive out two months,
22:36
Speaker 1: then sometimes it's a miracle. And not only was he
22:39
Speaker 1: starved to the point of death, he's death. He can't hear,
22:43
Speaker 1: so he's a disabled dog on top of everything else. Yes,
22:48
Speaker 1: and the other dog that she had was blind, and
22:52
Speaker 1: the night I picked it lucky up, I had no
22:54
Speaker 1: idea there was another dog involved. So while I was
22:59
Speaker 1: in her backyard picking him up, the other dog was
23:03
Speaker 1: trapped inside her house and starving, still blind in the dark,
23:09
Speaker 1: with no power, food, or water. And all she had
23:12
Speaker 1: to do was give him to me. All she had
23:16
Speaker 1: to do was tell me, hey, I had these two dogs.
23:19
Speaker 1: I can't take care of him, and I would have
23:21
Speaker 1: taken them in a heartbeat. I would have never ever
23:24
Speaker 1: left that other dog. So she had every intention of
23:29
Speaker 1: giving me my dog back, but leaving this other dog
23:33
Speaker 1: in this house to die. And the only way I
23:35
Speaker 1: even found out about him was a friend of hers
23:38
Speaker 1: contacted me the next day and said, just so you know,
23:42
Speaker 1: the last time I heard she had two dogs in
23:44
Speaker 1: that house. So I went back. It was probably maybe midnight.
23:49
Speaker 1: I went back because I was over an hour away drive.
23:53
Speaker 1: So I went back to that house and there he
23:57
Speaker 1: was in the window of all things, and I called
24:01
Speaker 1: the police with an investigator to come out, and they
24:04
Speaker 1: got him out. So had it not been for that
24:07
Speaker 1: one friend calling me, that other dog would be I'm
24:10
Speaker 1: certain of it. Take a listen to this. Also Justin
24:14
Speaker 1: Drew on news Rong Room. This woman rank here recused
24:16
Speaker 1: of leaving two dogs to starve to death. There's her
24:19
Speaker 1: much shot. Ashley Marie Davis was arrestued today in Cobb County,
24:23
Speaker 1: almost a year after police issue the warrants. The saga
24:26
Speaker 1: of the Lucky Dog was one of the most watch
24:29
Speaker 1: stories when eleven Alive dot com. This is what he
24:32
Speaker 1: looked like December of two sixteen, shortly after he was
24:35
Speaker 1: rescued from Davis's home. Police say Lucky and another dog
24:39
Speaker 1: were left in her care as a foster parent. Lucky
24:42
Speaker 1: is now fully recovered. Davis is being held in the
24:45
Speaker 1: Cobb County Jail on ten thousand dollars bond. Clime Stories
24:59
Speaker 1: with Grace Chicola sex offender was set to get out
25:06
Speaker 1: of prison on Wednesday. Now he's facing more sex charges,
25:10
Speaker 1: including sexual conducts with an animal and Ascambia County Sheriff's
25:14
Speaker 1: Office Warren affidavit accuses thirty eight year old Joseph Philyaw
25:19
Speaker 1: of raping a child under twelve years old and a
25:22
Speaker 1: family dog named Smiley. He was previously convicted of loot
25:26
Speaker 1: and lascivious conduct with a fourteen year old victim. He
25:30
Speaker 1: was set to be released from prison on Wednesday after
25:33
Speaker 1: spending two years in prison for that crime. Now he's
25:37
Speaker 1: being held in the Escambia County Jail without bond on
25:40
Speaker 1: new charges, including three counts of sexual battery, two counts
25:44
Speaker 1: of battery on a child, and one count of engaging
25:47
Speaker 1: in sexual conduct with an animal. Okay, right when you
25:51
Speaker 1: think you've heard it all, here comes somebody like this guy.
25:56
Speaker 1: Joe Philyaw, you were just hearing news wk RG reporter
26:01
Speaker 1: Cody Long to Penny Douglas, fur Atlanta trial attorney and
26:05
Speaker 1: animal advocate, forcing the little girl to watch as he
26:10
Speaker 1: sex molested the family pet. I mean, right when I
26:16
Speaker 1: think I've heard it all, this guy walks in. I mean,
26:20
Speaker 1: what can we do with him? I don't know that
26:24
Speaker 1: there's any way he could ever be rehabilitated. He needs
26:27
Speaker 1: to stay in jail from now on. Nancy sadly, this
26:31
Speaker 1: is common. A lot of abusers who abuse children will
26:37
Speaker 1: abuse or threaten the pets and say, you know, this
26:42
Speaker 1: is what I'm going to do, and they will show
26:45
Speaker 1: that they can hurt the pets, and they will use
26:49
Speaker 1: that to control the child that has happened hundreds of times.
26:54
Speaker 1: It's sad how often that happens, but it is very common.
26:59
Speaker 1: You will find other cases, and I've seen so many
27:03
Speaker 1: cases that are violence to humans that started as violence
27:09
Speaker 1: to animals. And I think that we need to put
27:12
Speaker 1: a lot more emphasis on when people are charged with
27:17
Speaker 1: violence to animals because a lot of like police officers,
27:21
Speaker 1: fill its beneath them. A lot of das don't want
27:23
Speaker 1: to deal with it is just an animal. But if
27:27
Speaker 1: they don't stop it, now it moves on to humans.
27:31
Speaker 1: And people don't see the connections, but there have been
27:34
Speaker 1: studies now that are showing that connection and they need
27:39
Speaker 1: to focus on it. You know. I was reading one
27:42
Speaker 1: of those Penny called a Common Bond, and it analyzes
27:47
Speaker 1: what researchers are found that violence against children frequently takes
27:53
Speaker 1: place alongside other forms of violence, including violence against animals.
28:00
Speaker 1: To doctor Daniel Biber, forensic psychiatrists explain, well, Nancy, the
28:04
Speaker 1: same mental processes that would you would use to harm
28:08
Speaker 1: a child are the same ones that you would use
28:10
Speaker 1: to harm an animal. Basically, the common theme being that
28:13
Speaker 1: you take pleasure in power and control over living things
28:17
Speaker 1: that are defenseless, and you can't protect themselves, and so
28:22
Speaker 1: you obviously exploit that animal abuse is a type of
28:25
Speaker 1: interpersonal violence, and believe it or not, what Penny Douglas
28:31
Speaker 1: Firm was saying is correct. It often co occurs with
28:37
Speaker 1: child abuse and even other forms of family violence. So
28:42
Speaker 1: when you identify animal abuse, that's an incredibly valuable tool
28:48
Speaker 1: in protecting children from abuse and neglect. I didn't realize,
28:55
Speaker 1: although it really makes common sense that the two go
28:59
Speaker 1: hand and hand, and to Joe Scott Morgan, forensics expert,
29:04
Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, way in, Yeah,
29:07
Speaker 1: you know, one of the disturbing little factors about this
29:09
Speaker 1: Nancy is that we see this in progression of serial
29:13
Speaker 1: cereal perpetrators. You know, they talk about this spectrum that
29:16
Speaker 1: they kind of march along where they'll start off literally
29:20
Speaker 1: with small animals and torture them, and it's a progression.
29:23
Speaker 1: Now it's a bit different in this because the animals
29:27
Speaker 1: in this particular case are being used with this fellow
29:31
Speaker 1: in front of this little girl as almost like a prop.
29:35
Speaker 1: He's taking something that this child probably loves and adores
29:40
Speaker 1: and demonstrating the abuse that he is conducted, that he
29:45
Speaker 1: is perpetrating only small animals, literally saying to her and
29:49
Speaker 1: you know, kind of nonverbal terms. He's demonstrating it, I'm
29:52
Speaker 1: gonna harm you like I'm harming this dog. There's even
29:56
Speaker 1: one report where she reported hearing the dog whimper during
30:00
Speaker 1: these acts, and he would actually hit this animal in
30:05
Speaker 1: the midst of having sex with it in front of
30:07
Speaker 1: this little girl too. You know, you were talking about
30:10
Speaker 1: the slide that we're on where you think that you've
30:12
Speaker 1: hit ground floor. Man, I'll tell you what it feels like.
30:15
Speaker 1: We're in the basement of hell sometimes with some of
30:17
Speaker 1: these people. You know, I've been studying this very carefully
30:20
Speaker 1: for this very moment when we speak. Statistics and research
30:24
Speaker 1: show that when children have animals in the home, they
30:28
Speaker 1: have higher self esteem, they do better in school. It
30:35
Speaker 1: goes so far in creating a happy and healthy child.
30:40
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, when that bond between them
30:44
Speaker 1: is broken by violence in the family or by neglect,
30:48
Speaker 1: the child pays an incredible price for witnessing that violence,
30:55
Speaker 1: whether the violence is directed a sibling, a parent, or
30:59
Speaker 1: a pet. They develop behavioral problems. They fail academically, They
31:05
Speaker 1: engage in delinquent behavior, criminal behavior. They are also more
31:12
Speaker 1: vulnerable to psychological problems, including drug addiction. And this not
31:19
Speaker 1: just hypothesizing. This is based on statistics and research. There's
31:25
Speaker 1: a very strong consensus now amongst researchers that child neglect
31:30
Speaker 1: and abuse and animal abuse are all part are all
31:37
Speaker 1: elements of family violence systems. So when you find someone
31:43
Speaker 1: abusing the animal, look to see how the children, or
31:48
Speaker 1: the spouse or the elder in the home is treated.
31:53
Speaker 1: To doctor Daniel bober forensic psychiatrists help me out. Bober No,
31:57
Speaker 1: I agree, it's sort of like what we call a
32:00
Speaker 1: surrogate marker. If an animal is being abused or a
32:03
Speaker 1: child is being abused, either way you have to look
32:05
Speaker 1: at the other because you know obviously it's a marker
32:08
Speaker 1: that something bigger is going on in the home. To
32:10
Speaker 1: Shauna Young, founder of Fight Like a Champ, Animal Advocate
32:14
Speaker 1: Army Rescue SHAWNA, I hope you're sitting down. I volunteered
32:22
Speaker 1: at the Batter Woman Center for nine years on the hotline,
32:26
Speaker 1: and now statistics show that at the least seventy one
32:31
Speaker 1: percent of battered women report their male partner had threatened
32:36
Speaker 1: or had in fact harm or killed their pet. The
32:42
Speaker 1: survey also points to the effect on children who witness
32:47
Speaker 1: animal abuse and families. Thirty two percent of women with
32:51
Speaker 1: children report one of their children had now also committed
32:55
Speaker 1: acts of animal cruelty from witness saying typically the male.
33:02
Speaker 1: But as we say in Champs case, a female, I'd
33:05
Speaker 1: be using a pet. What do you make of it, Shawna, Actually, Nancy,
33:08
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of cases recently in the last
33:11
Speaker 1: year and a half that have been perpetrated by women.
33:15
Speaker 1: That's a thing that I'm very confused by, because women
33:18
Speaker 1: are supposed to be the givers of life, the nurturers,
33:21
Speaker 1: the caretakers. I just I have no idea why, but
33:27
Speaker 1: it is very common. I know that a study out
33:32
Speaker 1: of Rutgers University says somewhere around eighty three percent of
33:35
Speaker 1: domestic violence sufferers also their pet was targeted. We speak
33:40
Speaker 1: to that when we go to county council meetings to
33:44
Speaker 1: try to persuade county councils to you know, initiate stuffer
33:48
Speaker 1: penalties for animal abusers and tethering ordinances. We try to
33:52
Speaker 1: speak on animal abuse and collateral crime. It's a it's
33:58
Speaker 1: a very co morbid, is you know, Penny Douglas. Fur
34:03
Speaker 1: not only um trial lawyer and animal advocate, but long
34:08
Speaker 1: time personal friend believed or not. We met over a
34:11
Speaker 1: case and you know, he was guilty. He was so guilty.
34:14
Speaker 1: And as a matter of fact, I proved that, as
34:16
Speaker 1: I recall, because he spit on his rape victim and
34:20
Speaker 1: we got the spit and we did a DNA match.
34:23
Speaker 1: Wasn't that that case, Penny? That? Oh yeah, okay, So
34:27
Speaker 1: I was right. Good times, good times. Um, I feel
34:30
Speaker 1: like crying, Penny, because listen to this as you were saying,
34:35
Speaker 1: that's why I'm coming back to you on this. The
34:38
Speaker 1: studies show that animals pets are used by perpetrators to
34:43
Speaker 1: coerce children into silence. The threat of animal abuse to
34:49
Speaker 1: silence child sex abuse has been a factor in many
34:55
Speaker 1: criminal convictions, and we have seen courts in Maine and
34:59
Speaker 1: Idaho and others affirm child sex abuse convictions, noting the
35:04
Speaker 1: defendant had also threatened and even killed animals in front
35:09
Speaker 1: of the child victim. Nancy, the man who just did
35:13
Speaker 1: the mask killing in Ohio, two weeks before he did
35:17
Speaker 1: the mask killing, he was sitting on a roof shooting
35:21
Speaker 1: and killing animals. If he had been arrested for that
35:26
Speaker 1: and charged with animal cruelty. They could have made it
35:29
Speaker 1: a part of his bond to take those guns away,
35:33
Speaker 1: and then all of those people would not have been killed.
35:36
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about the effect, and I'm sure there's not
35:41
Speaker 1: enough study, guys, I'm talking. I have learned a lot
35:44
Speaker 1: about this from the Humane Society organization, the Humane Society
35:50
Speaker 1: dot org, and I specifically studied in preparation for today's program,
35:57
Speaker 1: something called a Common Bond and it examines is by
36:02
Speaker 1: Mary lou Randour and Howard Davidson. That's between the Humane
36:06
Speaker 1: Society and the American Bar Association Center on Children and
36:10
Speaker 1: the Law, and it talks about maltreated children and animals
36:14
Speaker 1: in the home. And I'm just thinking about the effect
36:18
Speaker 1: that sea animals mistreated has on children. You know, the
36:24
Speaker 1: first thing the children see in the morning, Penny, you
36:27
Speaker 1: know my little babies. The first thing they see is
36:30
Speaker 1: me bring them. Yes, they get breakfast in bed. It
36:33
Speaker 1: is a fruit drink that I make by hand. And
36:36
Speaker 1: then they see me taking care of those two little
36:39
Speaker 1: fat poop monsters, my guinea pigs, Abbey and Chloe. That's
36:44
Speaker 1: the first thing they see is somebody taking care of
36:48
Speaker 1: pets and cleaning their cage and giving them their hay
36:52
Speaker 1: and their water and their treats. First, think seven am
36:56
Speaker 1: in the morning while you're having your law tape, Penny Douglas,
36:58
Speaker 1: for I'm shoveling guinea pig, And then they see the
37:01
Speaker 1: cat being taken care of and the dog being taken
37:04
Speaker 1: care of, and I wonder how that affects them. Penny,
37:09
Speaker 1: have you actually seen cases where the child is threatened
37:14
Speaker 1: with abuse of their pet? Oh? Absolutely. As a matter
37:18
Speaker 1: of fact, I've seen cases where the wife was being
37:22
Speaker 1: abused and she and the children were afraid to leave
37:26
Speaker 1: because the abuser was threatening the animals. One a case
37:32
Speaker 1: that I worked on, the wife and kids had even
37:35
Speaker 1: left and they came back home and found the dog
37:38
Speaker 1: dead in the middle of the floor. And many of
37:42
Speaker 1: them hesitate because most of the shelters will not take pets,
37:48
Speaker 1: and they're afraid to leave the abuser and leave the
37:51
Speaker 1: animals at home because they'll get exactly what my client did.
37:56
Speaker 1: They'll come home to a dead dog. Oh that hurts
37:58
Speaker 1: me so much, you know, to this day. Yeah. I
38:01
Speaker 1: also credit Penny Douglas fur with helping me find my
38:04
Speaker 1: cat Coco. Penny, I was got a divorce over that cat.
38:07
Speaker 1: It was actually right. Oh yeah, it was right before
38:11
Speaker 1: I married David, and I had had Coco, who I
38:14
Speaker 1: took in as a stray he was being starved and
38:19
Speaker 1: had him for eighteen years. And David, I was living
38:24
Speaker 1: in out of course, was living in New York at
38:26
Speaker 1: the time. David had the cat in Atlanta and was
38:31
Speaker 1: doing some remodeling, and I said, before he started the remodeling,
38:34
Speaker 1: get the cat out and board him at the vet
38:36
Speaker 1: for just a week or so and then bring him back. Well,
38:40
Speaker 1: David let the cat get away, and they started the remodeling,
38:43
Speaker 1: and the cat ran away, and I called Penny Douglas
38:46
Speaker 1: fur from Washington. D says about did Larry King's show
38:49
Speaker 1: in tears. I sent her a picture I had on
38:52
Speaker 1: my phone of the cat. She went all over the neighborhood,
38:56
Speaker 1: put up posters solid black cat, green eyes, answers to name.
39:00
Speaker 1: Coco does not have a tail reward. So we found
39:06
Speaker 1: the cat about three blocks as the crow flies away,
39:10
Speaker 1: at Miss Jane Baird's house and she answered Penny's poster,
39:16
Speaker 1: and she said, what, you could come get him, but
39:18
Speaker 1: right now, saute gim some shrimp. And she had renamed
39:22
Speaker 1: him mister Kitty. I can tell you this. David Lynch
39:25
Speaker 1: lived in the doghouse for quite some time after that.
39:28
Speaker 1: I want to circle back to the story about Champ
39:34
Speaker 1: to set a young found her fight like a Champ
39:36
Speaker 1: animal advocate. How is Champ doing, because when it first started,
39:41
Speaker 1: they thought that they couldn't save him. Camp is actually
39:44
Speaker 1: doing fantastic. After he was medically stable, he was taken
39:48
Speaker 1: to a foster home in Alabama, and then he was
39:51
Speaker 1: adopted by a family. I believe that lives in Maryland
39:54
Speaker 1: or Delaware. And he's riding around in a fancy car
39:58
Speaker 1: and swomen in a swimming pool, and he is a big,
40:01
Speaker 1: beautiful fat boy, just like he always should have been,
40:04
Speaker 1: you know. And that's my dog's name, fat Boy. And
40:07
Speaker 1: for a reason, for a reason, I'm just what happened
40:12
Speaker 1: to the evil person that had him chained up to
40:15
Speaker 1: a tree, starving him on purpose? Well, the evil person
40:18
Speaker 1: that had him chained to the tree starving was initially
40:22
Speaker 1: just written a ticket, you know, expletive ticket. I can't
40:27
Speaker 1: even say the word, but a ticket. So that's how
40:32
Speaker 1: like a Champ kind of got started. Was I was
40:35
Speaker 1: just so infuriated that the only thing that happened was
40:38
Speaker 1: a ticket. So I just started posting, you know what,
40:40
Speaker 1: I'm tired of this. I'm tired of this, And the
40:43
Speaker 1: next day fifteen hundred people were also tired of it.
40:48
Speaker 1: She's still hasn't concluded her trial yet. The powers that
40:54
Speaker 1: be in Lawrence County are making it very very hard
40:57
Speaker 1: for us to follow the case because name well, wait
40:59
Speaker 1: a minute, so she it was just a ticket. But
41:02
Speaker 1: was it ever upgraded to a different charge? Yes, ma'am,
41:05
Speaker 1: it was such as animal cruelty. Yes, ma'am, it was
41:07
Speaker 1: upgraded to animal cruelty. The fight like a Champ Animal
41:11
Speaker 1: Advocate Army forty six hundred strong. We did a bombardment
41:17
Speaker 1: e mail campaign to the Lawrence County Solicitor's Office and
41:21
Speaker 1: the Sheriff's office, and her charge was upgraded to a felony.
41:25
Speaker 1: He was indicted by the grand jury. It hasn't concluded yet, though.
41:29
Speaker 1: If you want to be involved in the case of
41:34
Speaker 1: this horribly mistreated and abused pet Champ, please contact the
41:40
Speaker 1: Lawrence County Solicitor's Office. That phone number is eight six
41:47
Speaker 1: four nine eight four two two zero two repeat eight
41:53
Speaker 1: six four nine eight four two two zero two. There
41:59
Speaker 1: are dress one hundred Hillcrest Square, Laurens, South Carolina, two
42:05
Speaker 1: nine three six zero, one hundred Hillcrest Square, Laurens, South Carolina,
42:13
Speaker 1: two nine three six zero. The Solicitor, I'm looking at
42:18
Speaker 1: him right now. It's like real law and justice kind
42:20
Speaker 1: of guy. David M. As in mother Stumbo, Stu m
42:26
Speaker 1: as in mother b brother O David M. Stumbo of
42:31
Speaker 1: the Eighth Judicial Circuit. Let's see what happens now. You
42:36
Speaker 1: can go to Fight Like a Champ on Facebook to
42:41
Speaker 1: find out the latest. I'm looking at it right now.
42:45
Speaker 1: If you want justice for Champ and other animals, go
42:48
Speaker 1: to the website and please contact the South Carolina Solicitor
42:53
Speaker 1: and Lawrence County David M. Stumbo. We wait as just
43:01
Speaker 1: as unfalls. Nancy Grace's crime story signing off, goodbye friend,