A Washougal woman appeared in Clark County Superior Court on Friday after allegedly letting her dog starve and freeze to death in a garage.
Melissa M. Stevens, 37, appeared on suspicion of first-degree animal cruelty in the death of her 6-year-old male pit bull, Frantic.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Stevens’ mother, Debra Mattila, called 911 on Jan. 6 after finding the dog malnourished and frozen to death in the shop of the attached garage of a house in the 500 block of K Street.
Mattila told law enforcement and animal control officers that she had been asking Stevens about the condition of Frantic. Stevens reportedly told Mattila that she had been feeding the dog, providing him with a heat source and checking on him, the affidavit states.
Court records say that Frantic was kept locked up in the shop on a cold cement floor, covered with urine and feces, in 20-degree temperatures.
The dog was last seen healthy and of normal weight in mid-November by another family member. Stevens allegedly told officers that Frantic wouldn’t gain weight due to an illness he had suffered the year before. She said, “He ate all the time.” Another family member said she fed the dog that morning and he was fine then, and the heater was on, according to court documents.
Stevens said the dog had decent living conditions and that she saw him alive and well a few days prior. The heater may have come unplugged, she said, resulting in the dog’s death, the affidavit states. Mattila told officers that the day she discovered Frantic, the heater was blowing cold air.
Officers found the dog’s water bowl was frozen, they said. His bed was torn and chewed up, and there was no food in sight, according to court documents.
A necropsy performed the next day found that Frantic only weighed 53 pounds; he had weighed nearly 100 pounds the year before. The veterinarian concluded that Frantic died of malnourishment and freezing. There was no food in his stomach or digestive tract.
“A dog in his body condition, even in moderately cold above-freezing temperatures, could succumb to hypothermia,” the affidavit reads.
During her court hearing, Stevens was granted supervised release. She will retain her own attorney. Her arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 27.
