 Hoarding - 2 dogs found dead in storage locker
Harwood Heights, IL (US)Date: Apr 15, 2006
Local Map: available
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Phinya L. Torrente
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After the bodies of two Afghan hounds were found decomposing in a rented storage locker in Harwood Heights, a homeless woman was indicted April 19 on animal-cruelty charges.
Family members and friends of Phinya L. Torrente, 71, said she is not an animal abuser and the charges are too severe for a woman who had been living in a van with as many as five dogs.
The two hounds died of natural causes, according to relatives, who said they couldn't explain why she put the bodies in the storage locker.
At first, investigators thought the odor wafting from the locker in the 4700 block of North Ronald Street signaled a homicide.
"It was a bizarre and disgusting case," said Harwood Heights Police Capt. Mario Ricchio. "[Torrente] was in bad shape too. We got her cleaned up in our facility here."
Torrente, whose last known address was in the 3900 block of North Ashland Avenue in Chicago, was in Cook County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail on one count of felony aggravated cruelty to animals plus misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals, companion animal hoarding and companion animal neglect. She has been in custody since her arrest April 5.
Ricchio said the charges relate to the two dead hounds and the condition of two surviving dogs--an Afghan and a pit bull--found in her van. The pit bull was taken to an animal shelter and the hound to a veterinary hospital, he said. Another dog, a small mixed breed, also was kept in the van but it ran away, authorities said.
Torrente's daughter, Sonya, 29, of Chicago said her mother did not abuse her dogs. But she said she thinks her mother needs help.
"My mom needs to be in a nursing home," Sonya Torrente said. "This is breaking my heart."
She said she would not try to raise bail money until assistance can be obtained for her mother.
Torrente is not destitute, according to friends and authorities. She receives a pension from having worked as a registered nurse for the Illinois Department of Mental Health and sold a 19-unit apartment building at Ashland and Sunnyside Avenues last fall after she could no longer manage it, her daughter said.
Torrente's late husband, Silvio, was a physician.
Rev. James Larkin of Christ Church, 5001 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, said Torrente began attending the church a year ago. After selling her apartment building, she moved in with two congregation members, he said.
They allowed her to have two of her dogs in their Elston Avenue home, but when Torrente picked up two Afghan hounds that had been at a vet hospital in February, they told her she could not have that many dogs in the house.
That's when Torrente began living in her van with the animals, parking at locations in the city and suburbs.
"We let her stay in the church parking lot," Larkin said. "We could have found homes for her, but she wouldn't give up the dogs."
Assistant Public Defender Melissa Wright represented Torrente at Wednesday's hearing. The felony charge stems from allegations that Torrente did not provide medical treatment or have the ailing dogs put to death, she said.
"It's aggravated cruelty because they were companion animals," Wright said.
Sonya Torrente expressed fears for her mother, whom she described as eccentric and independent.
"Those charges are no joke," she said. "It's scary because I can't see my 71-year-old mom spending time in jail. I don't think she will survive that." Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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