MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two Mid-South women face animal cruelty charges after two dead dogs were found in their abandoned Apartment.
Ruby Gray and Dileona Taylor are charged with aggravated cruelty to animals. Taylor remains in the Shelby County Jail. Gray is out on bond. Both are due back in court Aug. 8.
According to the police affidavit, MPD officers and Memphis Animal Services workers were called to the Lynnfield Apartments in east Memphis on June 24, 2022, after a property manager went to check on an apartment and found the two dogs dead inside. The manager told investigators Gray and Taylor had been several months behind on rent, but did not realize they had abandoned the apartment and left the dogs inside until that day.
According to the affidavit, police determined MLGW had cut off power to the unit on May 13, 2022.
Investigators said the two dogs were found locked in separate wire kennels, contorted and lying in their own feces, their bodies decomposing.
According to the affidavit, police reached Taylor by phone on June 25, and they said she admitted the dogs belonged to her and Gray, and that they were under a year old, but she did not know they were dead. Police said Taylor told them she and Gray would come in that day for statements, but that didn’t happen.
The two were picked up and arrested and charged after that.
