LAKELAND, Fla. — Polk County deputies arrested a woman who they claim poisoned her neighbors' cats and dog by feeding them strips of chicken laced with concentrated insecticide.
At a press conference at the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Grady Judd detailed the case saying that it was conducted by the PCSO's Animal Cruelty Investigative Unit and that it began on Aug. 16.
Deputies were called as one family's chihuahua, Daisy, and two cats, Pancake and Luna, died "in horrific distress."
A necropsy found that all three animals had ingested Phorate, a pesticide chemical used in insecticides.
When deputies began the investigation, they questioned the family's neighbor, Tamesha Knighten, a 51-year-old registered nurse. Knighten had been seen on surveillance camera carrying a Styrofoam bowl of canned chicken and leaving it out for the animals.
According to Judd, Knighten told investigators she left food out for the all animals in the neighborhood, claiming that she had too much to lose as a nurse to have killed her neighbors' pets. She added that Daisy, Pancake and Luna had come into her yard before and she wondered if they had accidentally gotten into some of the ant killer she had left around her property.
Investigators took samples from the dead pets as well as samples of Knighten's ant killer and samples from the Styrofoam bowl of chicken she had left out. According to Judd, Knighten claimed there was nothing in it except for her "special seasoning."
After months of analysis and collaboration between investigators and veterinary labs at the University of Florida, Texas A&M, and Michigan State, investigators determined that the chicken had been laced with Phorate. No ant killer was found in the pets' systems.
Deputies subsequently arrested Knighten on three charges of animal cruelty.
"If you're having problems with neighbors and their animals, resolve it with a neighbor peacefully and appropriately and legally," Sheriff Judd said. "Let us help. Do not poison innocent animals, unless you want to go to jail as well."