Kelly Anne Murphy, Brandon James Lyvers, Kimberly Renee Murphy (St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office)
Three members of a Florida family have been arrested after authorities say that 49 dogs and one cat in their care were living under “sickening” conditions, resulting in at least two of the animals dying after they were seized in October.
Kelly Anne Murphy, 44, Kimberly Renee Murphy, 43, and Brandon James Lyvers, 34, are charged with 50 felony counts of cruelty to an animal and 50 counts of unlawfully confining an animal without sufficient food or water, authorities announced.
Police said the Murphys are sisters and Lyvers was related, though his precise relationship with the women was redacted from court documents.
According to a news release from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, county animal control personnel responded at about 9 a.m. on Oct. 3 to a residence in the 4900 block of Amy Lane in Fort Pierce, Florida, for a follow-up visit from a May complaint regarding the number of animals being kept in the home.
Deputies eventually seized 49 dogs and a cat from the property, described as in a deplorable condition.
In a probable cause affidavit, a deputy said that many of the dogs appeared “extremely emaciated and malnourished to the point of being extremely weak.” One of the dogs was described as being “skin and bones” to the point where the deputy said, “I could see her ribs and hip bones that were protruding out of her skin.”
Another dog, a white hound, was in “very poor condition” after it had been found “defecating out plastic bags,” the deputy wrote. The dog had to be euthanized “due to apparent suffering.” Another dog died two days after being seized while on an intensive care routine of small feedings.
As the deputy continued to walk along the fence surrounding the front yard, he wrote that he could “smell a very strong odor of ammonia and feces emanating from inside the residence.”
“The living conditions inside the residence are horrendous with garbage, feces (animal and human) and urine (animal and human) throughout the residence,” the affidavit states. “Deputies had to wake up Brandon Lyvers, who was sleeping inside the residence.”
The living room, bathrooms, and kitchen were described as “very slippery due to being covered in feces, urine and garbage.” The garbage was “piled to the ceiling in some places.”
“There was no fresh food or water inside the residence for humans or animal consumption,” police wrote. “There was no running water inside the residence. There was no fresh air for humans or animals to breathe.”
Kelly and Kimberly Murphy told authorities nobody lived at the residence, but “several of the neighbors” told police the sisters and Lyvers “live there and are there all the time.”
In an interview with detectives, Lyvers allegedly admitted that he had lived at the residence for about three years with Kimberly Murphy and Kelly Murphy. Two juvenile victims’ names, ages, and relationships to the suspects were redacted from the affidavit. They all were described as being “dirty” and appearing as though they had not bathed “in a while.”
In an interview with West Palm Beach, Florida, CBS affiliate WPEC, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara described the home where the animals were kept as “sickening.”
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and not many things surprise me. This was very, very shocking to me,” Mascara said. “I’ve said I’m not going to eat for a week, which is probably true.”
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