A woman who was told she could not bring her dog aboard her international flight drowned the animal in the bathroom of a Florida airport, according to authorities.
Alison Lawrence, 57, of Kenner, Louisiana, faces a felony charge for what police described as the “cruel and unnecessary death” of her white miniature schnauzer, Tywinn.
Lawrence had gone to Orlando’s international airport with Tywinn to fly to Colombia on 16 December 2024, an arrest affidavit alleges.
Paperwork issues prevented Lawrence from taking the pet along with her on an international flight, Orlando police alleged.
In plain view of surveillance cameras, after speaking to an airline agent for several minutes, Lawrence walked into a bathroom near the ticketing area with the dog. She allegedly exited the bathroom without the schnauzer less than 20 minutes later.
Lawrence soon re-entered the terminal and traveled to Colombia, according to reports. A janitor had allegedly spotted the woman in the bathroom cleaning up water and dog food from the stall’s floor.
The employee subsequently found the dog’s carcass in a trash container and reported the grim discovery to a supervisor.
The dog had a companion vest, collar, rabies tag, a dog travel bag and a bone-shaped dog tag with Lawrence’s name and contact information.
An implanted microchip provided Tywinn’s identity to investigators. A necropsy determined that the schnauzer had been drowned.
US Customs and Border Protection confirmed that Tywinn’s owner had boarded a flight to Bogota, Colombia, before then flying to Ecuador, according to the Associated Press.
Police ultimately concluded that Lawrence had “taken extreme and tragic action by killing the dog”, according to ABC7. They arrested her in Lake county, Florida, on Wednesday on a count of aggravated animal abuse, a third-degree felony. She was reportedly released from custody pending the outcome of the case on $5,000 bail.
Dogs traveling from the US to Colombia must be accompanied by a health certificate issued by a veterinarian and a rabies vaccination certificate, according to guidelines from the US Department of Agriculture.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
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