Woman charged with drowning dog in airport bathroom after being denied boarding
A woman in Florida has been charged with drowning her dog in an airport bathroom after she was prevented from bringing the animal onboard a flight.
Police arrested the woman in Lake County on Wednesday on a charge of aggravated animal abuse, a third-degree felony.
Officers say she was stopped from bringing the white miniature schnauzer on her flight to Colombia from Orlando International Airport so she killed it and boarded the plane without it.
'This act was intentional and resulted in a cruel and unnecessary death of the animal,' said an arrest affidavit from the Orlando Police Department.
The investigation into the death of the 9-year-old schnauzer named Tywinn started in December when a janitor found the dog in a trash bag in a bathroom stall at the airport.
The janitor earlier had seen the woman in the stall cleaning up water and dog food from the stall's floor.
The janitor returned to the bathroom 20 minutes later where she found Tywinn in the trash container, along with a companion vest, collar, rabies tag, a dog travel bag and a bone-shaped dog tag with the woman's name and phone number, investigators said.
Airport surveillance cameras captured the woman speaking for 15 minutes to a Latam Airlines agent with the dog in tow.
She was then seen on camera walking into a bathroom near the ticketing area with the dog and exiting the bathroom without Tywinn less than 20 minutes later, police said.
The woman then went outside the terminal building, re-entered a short time later, passed through security and boarded the plane.
Authorities said the woman had been told she could not bring her dog aboard because she did not have the proper paperwork.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, dogs travelling from the US to Colombia must be accompanied by a veterinarian-issued health certificate and a rabies vaccination certificate.
The dog was identified by its implanted microchip and a necropsy determined that Tywinn had been drowned.
US Customs and Border Protection also confirmed to detectives that the woman had boarded a flight to Bogota and then flew to Ecuador.
Online court records showed no attorney listed for the woman from Kenner, Louisiana.
She was released on $5,000 bail.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Federal judge sides with anti-Israel ringleader Mahmoud Khalil, halts Trump administration's deportation bid
A federal judge sided with Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-Israel ringleader detained by the Trump administration, blocking the government from continuing to hold him on "foreign policy" grounds. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction preventing the government from detaining or removing Khalil, 30, based on a memorandum issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The memo asserted that Khalil's presence "compromises a compelling foreign policy interest." "The government cannot claim an interest in enforcing what appears to be an unconstitutional law," Farbiarz wrote, adding that the threat to free speech raised serious First Amendment concerns. The ruling is a significant legal setback for the administration's efforts to deport Khalil, who has been held at a detention facility in Louisiana following his involvement in anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University. Federal Judge Says Attempted Deportation Of Anti-israel Ringleader Mahmoud Khalil May Be Unconstitutional While the ruling grants a preliminary injunction against Khalil's removal, it stops short of ordering his release. Read On The Fox News App The court's decision will remain on hold until Friday morning, giving the government time to appeal. READ THE RULING – APP USERS, Click Here Anti-israel Ringleader Mahmoud Khalil's Free Speech Lawsuit Against Us Government Must Be Heard: Judge Khalil, a green card holder, was arrested after leading student protests on the Ivy League campus. He has argued that his free speech rights were being "eroded" by the Trump administration. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorneys have argued that Khalil's free speech claims were a "red herring," saying that the 30-year-old lied on his visa applications. Khalil, they said, willfully failed to disclose his employment with the Syrian office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he applied for permanent U.S. residency. The agency also accused Khalil of failing to disclose his work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest. Rubio has cited a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil's removal from the U.S. The provision allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the U.S. "would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences." Rubio accused Khalil of participating in "antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which foster a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States." "Condoning antisemitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective," Rubio wrote. Khalil has Algerian citizenship through his mother, but was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. As of Wednesday evening, no further hearings are scheduled in Khalil's immigration case. "We're just waiting for the judge to issue her ruling," Johnny Sinodis, a partner at Van Der Hout LLP who is representing Mahmoud Khalil in immigration proceedings, said during a press conference following the hearing. Meanwhile, the federal court's preliminary injunction will prevent Khalil's removal until at least article source: Federal judge sides with anti-Israel ringleader Mahmoud Khalil, halts Trump administration's deportation bid
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Balaclava-clad suspects ‘behind £250k handbags theft' caught on CCTV
Police have released images of the balaclava-clad suspects allegedly behind the theft of handbags worth £260,000. A trio of burglars took 55 luxury handbags from a boutique in the exclusive Cheshire village of Prestbury on Sunday night. The ski mask-wearing intruders broke in from a disused property next door, drilling through the shop's chimney to gain access. They then made a getaway with the high-end handbags, worth as much as £25,000 each. Cheshire Constabulary released CCTV images of the suspected burglars on Wednesday in an appeal for members of the public to identify them. Det Con Clare Slattery, of Macclesfield CID, said: 'Enquiries in relation to this incident are ongoing and we're committed to doing all we can to identify the people responsible. 'As part of our investigation we're keen to identify the men pictured in the CCTV images as we believe they may hold vital information. 'If you recognise the men, please contact us. I would also like to appeal directly to the men in the CCTV images to get in touch.' Christine Colbert, the owner of the boutique, watched the burglary live on CCTV from her home. 'I went to bed about 10.30pm on Sunday so I was asleep when we got a call from the monitoring company,' Mrs Colbert told the Daily Mail. 'I immediately switched on the CCTV on my phone and I could see a man crouching down and bricks all over the floor. I said to my husband Gary, 'We're being robbed.' I was panicking.' Mrs Colbert said that watching the footage back, she could hear the noise of drilling for more than an hour before the raiders broke through. She added added: 'They were big burly men, and they were all in black with goggles, balaclavas, and gloves. They took three or four minutes to whirl round the shop and grab all the bags. 'One man had a duvet tied round his neck like a pouch which he threw the bags in. Another man put everything up his arms – they were full of bags. 'Then they hurled the handbags through the hole they'd made. Respect for the bags was zero.' The gang dropped just two of the bags, which were among the least valuable. The next-door building was empty following an arson attack. Items worth £180,000 were stolen from Mrs Colbert's shop last year after burglars entered through a window. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Traveler arrested with 112 pounds of ketamine at Las Vegas airport
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Federal officials arrested an international traveler at Harry Reid International Airport with more than 100 pounds of ketamine in her luggage, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned. On June 5, special agents with Homeland Security Investigations arrested Rubeen Grimes on two federal drug charges, records said. Grimes arrived in Las Vegas on a flight from Germany, records said. While going through customs, Grimes appeared 'visibly nervous,' and agents later searched two of her suitcases. Agents X-rayed the suitcases, locating a large bag in each. A 'white, crystal substance' in the two bags, weighing a combined 112 pounds, later tested positive for ketamine, officials said. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration classifies ketamine as an anesthetic street drug that causes 'some hallucinogenic effects.' Grimes later told agents a person in Belgium 'recruited' her to bring the suitcases from Germany to Las Vegas, documents said. The deal would net her 10,000 in British pounds, or about $13,500. Grimes also told police she believed she was transporting marijuana. It was not clear if Grimes was in custody as of Wednesday. Federal officials filed a warrant for her arrest on Monday. Doctors can use an injectable form of ketamine to treat depression, the DEA said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
