She was indicted by a grand jury Oct. 11 on the additional charges. Murphy was in a common pleas courtroom Tuesday for arraignment on the indicted charges. She is scheduled to be back in court Nov. 21 for a pretrial hearing before Butler County Common Pleas Judge Noah Powers II.
Murphy was ordered not to have any contact with animals and is free on her own recognizance.
In addition to the fifth-degree felonies, Murphy was charged with seven second-degree misdemeanors.
Court documents outline details of the alleged crimes specifically, including starving dogs to death, failure to get medical treatment for dogs in her care who suffered from pneumonia “due to horrible living conditions”, open sores, rickets “due to being kept in the dark and continuously caged” and chronic ear infections and skin conditions.
Three dogs were found in the living room of the Mosiman Road residence without food or water, four neglected dogs were found in a pole barn and Bella the dog was found without food or water locked in a van, according to court documents.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said he wants to get the message out to anyone with concerns about animal abuse to reach out to authorities.
“These types of cases generally are only going to be disclosed by the attention of others,” Gmoser said. “So in addition to injuries and deaths that were caused to these animals, which by itself is horrible, I am hoping it will make the public pay attention in their situational awareness to the condition of animals that they see, and may wonder about, and make a call to the sheriff’s office if it is out in the county, or the local authorities of the jurisdiction to alert them that there may be a problem.”
Murphy was arrested July 31 and spent several days in the Middletown City Jail before she waived her right to a preliminary hearing and the case was sent to grand jury for consideration. Middletown Municipal Court Judge James Sherron then released her on her own recognizance.
Murphy also signed over the dogs to the county dog warden’s office for care by Animal Friends Humane Society. This means the eligible dogs were available for adoption and did not have to await the conclusion of the criminal case.
Deputies, detectives and deputy dog wardens arrived at the property in the 5000 block of Mosiman early July 27 for a welfare check on the dogs, court records show.
Murphy ran a rescue called ”Helping Hands for Furry Paws” and she was known to authorities because of previous calls, according to the court complaint.
In addition to the dogs found alive in “horrific” conditions, 30 canine bodies were discovered in refrigerators and freezers throughout the property and at an Eck Road property also owned by Murphy, BCSO said.
Animal Friends Humane Society on Princeton Road in Hamilton cared for the surviving pups that included senior dogs, nursing mothers and newborn puppies.
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