Cat lady charged with 17 counts of animal abuse
Sarah E. McBride told police that she noticed the dead cat in the middle of her floor, but she didn’t have any money to bury it, so she left it on the floor.
Jackson County prosecutors charged the 39-year-old from Independence yesterday with 17 counts of animal abuse.
Court documents say McBride abandoned 18 cats and a dog in a house at 1110 E. Pacific in Independence in April 2009. McBride told detectives that the house still had a little water pressure
left so she took the toilet tank lid off and lifted the toilet seat so
the animals would have water.
McBride told police that a heart condition hospitalized her during
the first week of April 2009. She added that her gas utility had been shut
off in November 2008, and she had to use an electrical heater to keep her
house warm. Then in April 2009, she her electric and water were shut
off.
McBride claimed that her vehicle had been stolen and she’d lost her
job. She told detectives that she had been staying with friends and family since abandoning the house. She also claimed that friends were feeding the animals.
Independence police discovered the animals after a neighbor complained about a foul odor coming from the house.
