Deputies find dead animals in home

SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. (WALA) - The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office uncovered a grisly scene inside a home on Monday: seven dead animals that were living in filth.

Deputies responding to a complaint about possible dead animals inside a Winding Shore Drive home on Monday, November 5 said upon entering the backyard, they were overcome by a strong smell of decay and feces.

They looked through a rear window into the house and saw dead animals and deplorable conditions.

“It’s sad because I guess I assumed once I didn’t hear the dogs barking anymore, I just assumed she had took them with her. And I think that a lot of the neighbors hoped that as well,” said a neighbor who was home when the deputies searched the property.

This neighbor said she met the couple living at the home about two years ago.

“We had conversations about animals because she was a vet tech,” said the neighbor. “She gave me some tips about my cat.”

She said the couple would come and go from the property, and that stopped about a year ago.

But, she said the barking continued and others in the neighborhood phoned in complaints.

An October dated door tag from the Santa Rosa County Animal Service Department read, "Received complaint, no one home, dog abandoned."

Public records show that Kevin and Toni Phelps own the property. Sheriff’s investigators said the house was in foreclosure and had been neglected since March or April 2012.

“There was a fellow that put in a bid with the bank that wanted to do the lawn because it’s just recently been taken over by the bank. And he looked in what windows you could look in, because a lot of them are covered, and he saw two dead cats,” said the neighbor.

Deputies following up on his complaint obtained a search warrant Monday, entered the property and found the remaining dead animals.

“They definitely had lots of pets. There were numerous dogs at one time – probably about eight or nine, because I think she would rescue them from the place that she worked. But it wasn’t like you saw them because they were in the house, but you could sit right here and hear them barking all the time,” said the neighbor.

Investigators said Toni Phelps has denied owning or abandoning the animals. She has not been charged with a crime.

But, the sheriff's office said charges are pending.

Call the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office if you have any information about this case.