Three kittens abused
Gardner, MA (US)Incident Date: Friday, May 18, 2007
County: Worcester
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Michele L. Lepkowski
Hours after authorities took a fatally injured 2-year-old girl from her mother's Grant Street apartment in May, police found three abused kittens in the home, including one decaying in the toddler's toy box.
Michele L. Lepkowksi, 32, of 55 Grant St., is accused of murdering her daughter, Raelynn T. Mascal, who police said died May 18 after suffering head, neck and torso injuries. Ms. Lepkowski's boyfriend at the time, 21-year-old Luke Malizia of 25 Bear Hill Road, is charged with reckless endangerment of a child because he allegedly did nothing to help the toddler.
A two-page police report, filed by the city's animal control officers within days of Raelynn's death, details the conditions of three kittens found in Ms. Lepkowski's apartment as police investigated the death. Deputy Police Chief Rock Barrieau said his department gave the report to Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early's office months ago to be included in the office's investigation.
Mr. Early's office is the lead investigating agency on the case.
Joseph Quinlan, a spokesman for Mr. Early, said yesterday his office had no comment on the kitten abuse allegations. He would not say whether additional charges would be brought against Ms. Lepkowski or Mr. Malizia.
Ms. Lepkowski, who is being held at Framingham State Prison in lieu of $100,000 cash bail, was scheduled to be arraigned in Worcester Superior Court yesterday on charges of murder, reckless endangerment of a child, and assault and battery on a child with serious bodily injury. She was indicted on the charges last week. Her arraignment was postponed to next Friday, however, because of an oversight by the court, according to Mr. Quinlan.
Mr. Malizia's next appearance in Gardner District Court is scheduled for Jan. 16. At the time police charged him with reckless endangerment, Mr. Malizia was on probation for a 2005 indecent assault and battery charge on a person over 14. He is free on $2,500 cash bail and wears a GPS electronic monitoring device.
According to a police report, at 1:30 a.m. May 19, roughly 10 hours after Raelynn's death, police were investigating the apartment at 55 Grant St. when they sent an emergency pager message to Assistant Animal Control Officer Heather Eula Bradley. Ms. Bradley went to the apartment and police handed her a towel-lined cardboard box that contained two kittens 7 to 10 weeks old.
Both kittens had head abrasions, and one couldn't move its legs, Ms. Bradley said in the report. One kitten had seizures and was euthanized that day, while the other kitten died the next night.
On May 22, Animal Control Officer Lisa A. Gaudet contacted Dr. Michelle Bianco, the veterinarian who treated the two kittens. The first kitten was believed to have suffered from head trauma and showed pain and swelling of the skull, while the second kitten had severe head trauma with bruising and a possible skull fracture, the veterinarian told Ms. Gaudet.
On May 30, Ms. Gaudet was contacted regarding a third kitten that was discovered in a Fisher-Price "Jump into Play" toy box.
"The kitten was dead for some time. Flies and maggots were present," Ms. Gaudet wrote.
A veterinarian's report on the kitten said the animal had a hole in its stomach and likely suffered from blunt force trauma, according to Ms. Gaudet. References« MA State Animal Cruelty Map
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