Ohio Dog Found Starved and Dead in Dumpster

Two People Face Charges for the Death of Charlie

On Friday, February 5^, Hali Kern, of Hamilton, Ohio, made a routine trip to dispose of her trash at her apartment complex.  To Hali’s horror she made the gruesome discovery of a dead dog, still confined in his crate with his collar and name tag.  The crate was beneath a sheet which she’d accidentally displaced when she tossed in her refuse.

The callous person who trashed Charlie crate and all, was so unconcerned by their neglect of the precious dog that there was no attempt to conceal his identity.  Charlie’s tag and the phone number on it led Butler County Deputy Dog Warden Kurk Merbs to the apartment of 21 year-old Katie Schmuck, of the apartment complex on Reflections Pointe.

During the various days of investigation, Schmuck gave several stories as to what happened to Charlie. One entailed giving him to total strangers. Another story was that she’d left to visit her mother for a week and had asked a friend to care for Charlie, though she’d said Charlie hadn’t eaten for three weeks and inconceivably, she hadn’t taken him to receive veterinary care.   The friend, 21-year-old Jacob Goodwin of Hamilton, told Warden Merb he’d been to the apartment three times to care for Charlie during the week.  Schmuck said Charlie, a 1-year-old miniature pincher/retriever mix, died while she was away.

Schmuck and Goodwin have been charged with cruelty to a companion animal, a misdemeanor, and are scheduled to appear in Hamilton Municipal Court on Feb. 24, 2016.

In Defense of Animals’ -Justice for Animals Campaign’s mission and work for now are focused in Mississippi for the purpose of aiding the compassionate populace to take charge and standing up against the neglect and violent treatment of animals.  The goal is to work with city and county officials to strengthen animal control and protection ordinances with the goal of educating state legislators that it is the majority of citizens who expect humane leadership and just laws for all Mississippians, including the animal population.  IDA is following news of like cases in other regions to exhibit the awareness of Americans to these crimes and to show the support for just laws.

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