In addition to the animal cruelty offenses, the mother was charged with four counts of endangering a child, the Rusk County Sheriff’s Office said. She has four children ages 1 to 11.
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A Texas mother has been arrested after her 11-year-old son called 911 and reported that she “believed he was the devil” and was in the process of “burning the family dogs,” authorities said.
Rusk County sheriff’s deputies responded to the home in Henderson, about 140 miles southeast of Dallas, around 1 p.m. on May 17, according to a Facebook post shared by the agency. While on the way to the scene, 911 dispatchers got a second call from a nearby address regarding a woman who had just arrived at their home with blood on her hands and who told them that her parents had been killed, the sheriff’s office said.
When deputies arrived at the home, their investigation led to the detainment of the 32-year-old mother, who had been driving her car with her four children, ages 1 to 11, inside, according to the sheriff’s office.
Affidavit says woman admitted to killing family’s two dogs
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by USA TODAY, deputies initially met the woman’s parents at the family’s home. While deputies were speaking with the parents, the mother drove up to the scene with her children in a car, rolled down her passenger side window and screamed, “Help, help, help me someone is trying to kill me,” the court document said.
The woman’s parents retrieved the children from the vehicle, while a deputy tried to calm her down, the affidavit said. While speaking to the woman, the deputy said she exhibited signs of “paranoia,” began “sweating profusely,” and had “abnormally fast breathing.”
Also, while speaking to deputies, the mother did admit to killing the family’s two dogs in front of her children, according to the affidavit.
Canine remains found in front of woman’s home
During the sheriff’s office’s investigation, deputies found canine remains in a fire that was burning in front of the woman’s home, the Facebook post says. Based on this and deputies’ initial findings, the woman was arrested and charged with two felony counts of cruelty to animals and four counts of endangering children, the sheriff’s office announced.
She was subsequently booked on a $400,000 bond.
Rusk County Sheriff Johnwayne Valdez told KLTV that Child Protective Services is also investigating the situation.
As of May 21, it is unclear if the woman has legal representation. USA TODAY is not naming her to protect the identity of her children.
Valdez told USA TODAY on May 21 that the woman will be mentally evaluated soon, “but as of yet, she has not.”
Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com.
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