STAUNTON — A woman is facing felony charges after two dogs were recently found dead inside her apartment, according to the Staunton Police Department.
Kimberley Shepard, 59, of Staunton, was arrested on two charges of animal cruelty.
On Saturday, police officers were dispatched to an apartment in the 2400 block of Bare Street following a tip that there were dead animals there. Police made contact with Shepard, who at the time was in another apartment in the building.
After police spoke with Shepard, she allowed them to peak inside her apartment. “And just inside the door, a small dog was observed deceased,” an officer wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant.
After Shepard was Mirandized, she admitted there were two dead dogs inside the apartment, the affidavit said.
“She was unsure how long they had been deceased, but believed one dog died about two and a half weeks ago, and the other dog maybe a week,” wrote an animal control officer.
The affidavit stated the apartment was “cluttered, in disarray, and appeared dirty.”
A dead Chihuahua was recovered from the apartment, police said, along with a deceased black and gray dog.
Shepard is free on bond.
In 2022, two dogs, a ferret and a lizard were found dead in an empty residence on North New Street in Staunton. Police estimated the pets were left alone in the home for about five months. In June, more than two years after the animals were discovered deceased, Staunton authorities charged a suspect, Christopher Shingles, and had him extradited from Florida.
Shingles, 34, is facing two felony charges of animal torture and two misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty. He is being held without bond at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona.
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Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on X (formerly Twitter).
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