POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida nurse is accused of poisoning two of her neighbor’s cats and a pregnant dog.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday that Tamesha Knighten, 51, was arrested and faces several counts of felony animal cruelty.
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Deputies said the two cats, Luna and Pancake, were found choking, foaming at the mouth and “in obvious significant pain.” The cats died within hours of each other. Then, four hours later, a pregnant Chihuahua, Daisy, was found dead by her owners, according to sheriff’s officials.
Knighten’s neighbors told deputies she threatened to poison their pets if the animals came into her yard.
“On the day that the pets died, they noticed Knighten pacing in her yard along the shared fence line. She had also yelled at the victims’ children that day, who were outside playing ball,” the sheriff’s office said in a release.
The neighbors said they noticed the cat “acting strangely” in the yard and Knighten, who was also outside, said the cat must be choking on a frog, according to sheriff’s officials.
Deputies found a white Styrofoam bowl near Knighten’s air conditioning unit that had “a white meaty substance mixed with a dark colored material.” Knighten denied having those kinds of bowls until deputies found a pack of them in her pantry, a release shows.
The sheriff’s office said deputies reviewed video from Knighten’s yard and saw her holding the bowl while wearing a blue glove. When asked why she was wearing the glove, she said it was to pick up papers in the yard, which deputies did not find evidence from, the release said.
“They told her the bowl looked like it contained tuna, to which she replied, ‘It wasn’t tuna, it was chicken.’ When asked what the chicken had on it, she called it her ‘special seasoning’ and said she put the bowl of food outside to ‘feed animals in the area,’” the sheriff’s office said.
Lab results showed the pets consumed Phorate, a pesticide found in insecticides, according to officials, which would have caused the animals to suffer.
“This suspect, despite all evidence to the contrary, repeatedly denied killing her neighbor’s pets, even telling our detectives that she’s a nurse and had too much to lose. Well guess what? These people lost their beloved pets in a most horrific way, and she lost her freedom by going to jail,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in the release.
In addition to animal cruelty, Knighten faces one count of depositing poison in a public area.
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