Animal Abuse: 650 dogs and cats drowned by rescuer - Columbus, OH

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Case ID: 10948

Classification: Drowning

Animal: cat, dog (non pit-bull)

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650 dogs and cats drowned by rescuer
Columbus, OH (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Mar 14, 2007
County: Franklin

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: Maureen McLaughlin

Case Updates: 7 update(s) available

Humane Society agents on Wednesday were searching for a woman wanted for animal cruelty.

Prosecutors stated Maureen McLaughlin admitted killing 650 puppies, dogs, and cats by drowning them in a trash can.

McLaughlin recently told authorities she would fill a trash can with water, put the animals in a crate, and place the crate in the water.

"She would keep fur from each animal that she killed and write the name and date and descriptions of the animals," stated assistant city prosecutor Bill Hedrick.

Many of the animals MacLaughlin drowned since July 2002 were received through people thinking that she was a rescue.

"No one would expect this going on and basically she's just a mass killer of animals," Hedrick stated.

Authorities were working to determine why McLaughlin killed the animals when they say she knew that what she did was wrong.

McLaughlin was charged with one count of animal cruelty because Humane Society agents recovered only one carcass.

Prosecutor Hedrick said he was concerned that she could be volunteering with local veterinarians or other rescues.

Case Updates

A Columbus-area woman who drowned cats and dogs pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges today and has been sentenced to a year in jail.

Prosecutors said Maureen McLaughlin told them she was frustrated with the pet adoption system and that some pet owners were unfit.

Investigators have said she confessed to killing as many as 650 animals in the past five years, but she pleaded guilty to three counts of animal cruelty.

Defense attorney Tasha Ruth says her client's judgment was impaired by paranoia and mental health problems.

As part of the sentence, McLaughlin will be prohibited from owning pets again, and when she is released from jail her apartment will be subject to unannounced searches by animal control officers

Source: Fox 45 - Aug 24, 2007
Update posted on Aug 24, 2007 - 12:34AM

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A woman who admitted to killing hundreds of animals to save them is now facing more charges.

Maureen McLaughlin was previously charged with five counts of animal cruelty, but appeared in court on Tuesday morning to answer to six additional charges.

In a court hearing, Judge Harland Hale, defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed that McLaughlin is in need of mental competency testing.

"She's been killing people's pets. So she went on from having stray animals to encouraging people to bring their animals and now she's actually, supposedly fostering or caring for some people's animals, neighbors and she killed those pets as well," said Bill Hedrick, city prosecutor. "You have constant animals coming in, but you don't have any animals coming out."

The 56-year-old former animal shelter volunteer allegedly admitted to killing 650 cats and dogs in her north Columbus apartment, claiming she drowned them because she had lost faith in the animal adoption system.

"It's unbelievable. It's something I'm trying to wrap my mind around, something to this extreme, this extent," said Kerry Munion of the Capital Area Humane Society.

Officials claimed they have audio and video confessions from McLaughlin.

If she is found guilty, McLaughlin could spend 1� years in jail.

Source: NBC 4 - March 27, 2007
Update posted on Mar 27, 2007 - 5:16PM

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Prosecutors in Columbus say a woman charged with animal cruelty in the deaths of five cats gave a videotaped confession in which she expressed frustration with the pet-adoption system and indicated some pet owners didn't deserve to have animals.

Fifty-six-year-old Maureen McLaughlin remained in a county jail this afternoon on a 200-thousand dollar bail.

Assistant Public Defender Tanya Flanigan had objected to the bond, noting the charges are misdemeanors.

But Franklin County Environmental Judge Harland Hale said he set the amount because McLaughlin fled to Mansfield and checked herself into a psychiatric facility after the first charge was filed following a search of her home.

She faces a maximum one-and-a-half years in jail if convicted

Source: WFMJ - March 21, 2007
Update posted on Mar 22, 2007 - 12:02AM

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Three more charges of animal cruelty were filed today against a woman who has confessed to killing 650 cats and dogs, and the Columbus city prosecutor's office expects to file more as soon as Wednesday.

Maureen McLaughlin, 56, of the North Side, didn't speak during her first appearance in court today. She is being held in Franklin County jail in lieu of posting $200,000 bail.

She is charged with a total of five counts of cruelty, each stemming from an instance in which she drowned a cat, authorities say.

"This woman is a menace to animals,'' First Assistant City Prosecutor Bill Hedrick told Environmental Judge Harland H. Hale. "When we first filed charges against her, she fled the jurisdiction.''

McLaughlin was brought to Franklin County jail yesterday; she had checked herself into a psychiatric ward at MedCentral Health Systems in Mansfield last week,

Hale asked public defender Tanya Flanigan if she was requesting a mental evaluation of McLaughlin. Flanigan answered, "She seems fine to me.''

Source: Columbus Dispatch - March 20, 2007
Update posted on Mar 20, 2007 - 11:01PM

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Prosecutors on March 19, 2007 charged the Columbus woman accused of drowning hundreds of cats, small dogs and puppies with an additional count of animal cruelty after finding an cat carcass in her apartment.

Maureen McLaughlin stated that she was sorry for misrepresenting herself as an animal rescue.

"I just want people to know that I was trying to prevent a long, protracted, horrible life on the streets with a 90-second death," McLaughlin stated. "It was only 90 seconds. I know it was awful, but it was only 90 seconds."

Prosecutors described those 90 seconds as "pure hell" for the animals.

"She put the crates in the water, put cement blocks in the crates and she would stand back while it was going on and she would pray for the animal in question," said assistant city prosecutor Bill Hedrick. "I mean, it's just sick."
McLaughlin will now undergo a psychiatric evaluation before standing trial.

"I think she's competent, that she's aware of what she did was wrong," Hedrick said. "At no point was she deluded in what she was doing."

"The alternatives would have been horrible, life on the streets or life in a series of abusive homes, there are no safe spaces," McLaughlin said.

The Capital Area Humane Society and other animal rescue groups said they disagree with McLaughlin's last statement.

McLaughlin's first court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Source: 10tv.com - March 19, 2007
Update posted on Mar 19, 2007 - 11:33PM

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The files were reserved for her favorites: Beloved Romeo, Old Mama, Mr. Big, and a couple dozen others.

"Best kitty in all the land," she wrote.

"Such pure love in his golden eyes!! " she said of another.

Investigators say Maureen McLaughlin scribbled fondnesses on the fronts of envelopes, tucked a lock of fur inside and recorded a date.

That reflected the day that she put the cat or dog in a crate, lowered the animal into a deep trash can filled with water and waited for it to drown.

McLaughlin told investigators that she thinks she had 650 victims.

"It definitely has the pathology of what a serial killer would do, except that it involves animals instead of people," Assistant City Prosecutor Bill Hedrick said yesterday.

"It crosses into this 'angel of death' thing."

McLaughlin, 56, of 4331-B Malin Dr. E., checked herself into a psychiatric ward at MedCentral Health Systems in Mansfield this week, Hedrick said yesterday.

He expects her to return on Monday to face at least one charge of animal cruelty. As the investigation continues, Hedrick and others said, additional charges are expected.

McLaughlin apparently has bipolar disorder and might not have been taking her medication for some time, Hedrick said. He wants her brought to the Franklin County jail, but added, "I want our mental-health experts ready."

Although the killings apparently spanned several years, they came to light a week ago when McLaughlin called Columbus police to report that she had drowned several animals. Cpl. Joe Rock of the Franklin County Department of Animal Care and Control went to her North Side apartment on Sunday.

"If you had walked in there, you'd think she was an animal lover," he said.

Pictures of animals adorn the tidy apartment, along with information about animal care, pet rescue and spay and neuter programs, Rock said.

Hedrick also said that McLaughlin had books by true-crime author Ann Rule, who has written about serial killers.

"Her keeping trophies of victims - that's exactly what serial killers do," Hedrick said. "I've never seen anything like this."

Investigators say that only a tiny fraction of animal-cruelty cases, possibly less than 1 percent, involve drowning. "It's just a really heinous, hideous way to kill an animal," Hedrick said.

Rock and Kerry Manion, chief agent for the Capital Area Humane Society, said McLaughlin seemed to see herself as some sort of savior.

She took in hundreds of cats and dogs from animal-rescue groups and made it known around her neighborhood that she would accept unwanted or stray animals and find them homes, Rock said.

McLaughlin agreed to a videotaped confession by investigators before she left for the hospital, he said.

"In her words, she was frustrated with the pet-adoption process," Rock said. "She thought they weren't screening people properly, and that they weren't qualified."

Rather than see the animals with unfit human companions, he said, she apparently decided to kill them.

Manion said McLaughlin began to defy her own logic, however, when she killed the pets of friends and neighbors.

A neighbor who had asked McLaughlin to feed and water her cat while she was away returned and was told that the cat had been placed in "foster care."

The cat hasn't been seen.

"I don't think we'll ever find out what happened to everybody's pets," Manion said.

Anyone with information about the investigation or questions about a missing pet can call the Capital Area Humane Society at 777-7387, Ext. 250.

Source: Columbus Dispatch - March 17, 2007
Update posted on Mar 17, 2007 - 10:41AM

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Investigators say that a woman who confessed to killing 650 cats and dogs is expected to return to Columbus to face criminal charges on Monday.

Maureen McLaughlin, 56, apparently had checked herself into a mental-health facility in the Mansfield area by the time authorities went to her North Side apartment on Wednesday, Assistant City Prosecutor Bill Hedrick said.

Hedrick said that a social worker who knows McLaughlin told authorities that the woman has a bipolar disorder.

"I want to make sure our mental-health experts are ready," Hedrick said.

Investigators from the Franklin County Animal Shelter and the Capital Area Humane Society say McLaughlin has described drowning hundreds of animals in a large trash can filled with water.

Hedrick said McLaughlin told them she got the animals from rescue groups and neighbors. She said she killed them because she didn't want them to languish in the animal-welfare system.

McLaughlin has been charged so far with one count of animal cruelty.

Two animal rescuers have told authorities that they gave Maureen McLaughlin about 150 animals during the past five years.

Hedrick described the apartment as "meticulous," with no signs of pets, though neighbors referred to McLaughlin as "the cat lady."

She had called Columbus police over the weekend telling of her crimes.

When investigators from the Franklin County Animal Shelter and Capital Area Humane Society went to McLaughlin's apartment, she told investigators that she had killed 650 animals and showed them how: She would put an animal in a crate, then drown it in a large trash can filled with water, Hedrick said.

McLaughlin also showed investigators 16 envelopes that had names and descriptions of animals written on them as well as the dates of their deaths, Hedrick said.

The envelopes contained fur or hair.

On Sunday, Cpl. Joe Rock of the Franklin County Department of Animal Care and Control met McLaughlin and videotaped her confessing to killing the animals.

She then led him to the most recent grave, which was in some woods near her home. He said the remains of a short-haired gray and white cat were inside. McLaughlin was charged with one count of animal cruelty.

Sam Massie, a private security guard and animal rescuer, said he hates to think McLaughlin lied to him all these years.

They met in 2001, and he began bringing dogs and cats to her because she said she was affiliated with an organization that did not euthanize animals, he said.

He estimated he and his wife brought McLaughlin 100 animals.

"It's heartbreaking," Massie said. "When we heard, it made us sick to our stomachs."

The Humane Society, the County Animal Shelter, the Columbus Dog Connection and the Columbus Cat Welfare Association, where McLaughlin volunteered about a decade ago, said they have not taken in any animals from McLaughlin during the past five years.

Hedrick said that building a case might prove difficult. The statute of limitations prevents his office from prosecuting animal-cruelty cases more than 2 years old.

McLaughlin, who got around by bicycle, told investigators she dropped the bodies in parks and different forested areas around the county.

When investigators returned to her apartment at 4331-B Malin Dr. E. with a search warrant Wednesday, the envelopes, crate and trash can were gone.

McLaughlin had left a note saying what she wanted to be buried with.

Source: Columbus Dispatch - March 16, 2007
Update posted on Mar 16, 2007 - 6:10PM

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650 dogs and cats drowned by rescuerColumbus, OH (US)

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650 dogs and cats drowned by rescuer
Columbus, OH (US)