North Carolina woman charged with killing 8 cats, starving 7 dogs

GARNER, N.C. -- (WGHP) -- A Wake County prosecutor described shocking scenes inside an apartment and a house where a woman charged with killing and starving animals to death once lived.

WTVD reported that 24-year-old Brigette Baldwin faced a judge for the first time on Friday afternoon on eight counts of killing animals by starvation and seven counts of animal cruelty.

She wiped away tears as a prosecutor described the scene found at a Garner apartment from which Baldwin was evicted.

There were 10 animals inside with no food or water. There were four cats locked in a separate room. All had died in that apartment.

“There were six dogs in the house. Four were in the living room with no food and water. Two were locked in a bedroom with no food and water. Every dog was extremely emaciated,” said assistant Wake County district attorney Kristin Peebles.

Peebles said that there was also feces and urine all over the apartment. Peebles told the judge that investigators went looking for Baldwin at a home on Chelsea Drive in southern Wake County.

Baldwin inherited the house with another family member a couple of years ago, according to property records.

Authorities said they found four dead cats and a starving dog in a crate.

The judge told Baldwin that if she posted bond and got out of jail, she would have to have a mental evaluation and could not have any animals.