124 Cats, Cat Skull Found In Feces-Caked Crystal Home, Woman Charged

CRYSTAL, MN — A 47-year-old Crystal woman faces 10 counts of animal abuse after police said they found 124 cats living in feces and vomit in her house. A cat skull was also found.

Shawna M. Duffy, 47, was charged Monday in Hennepin County Court. If convicted, she faces up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

In January, the Plymouth Police Department began actively investigating a case of illegal dumping of animal waste. Officers set up a camera and license plate reader equipment along Bass Lake Road.

On Jan. 27, the equipment captured a suspect vehicle involved in illegal dumping.

Officers spoke with the registered owner of the vehicle at their address, a man who admitted to dumping several bags full of feces on the roadway over two months.

He said the bags of feces were from his girlfriend's house in Crystal. The girlfriend was identified as Duffy, according to the criminal complaint.

In February, Crystal Police Department officers went to Duffy' home and heard the sound of numerous animals coming from inside the residence and were met by a strong odor of cat feces/urine, according to prosecutors. The odor could be smelled 15 feet from the closed front door of the residence, police said.

Nobody answered the door.

Later that month, animal control officers and representatives from the Animal Humane Society went to the residence to execute a search warrant, where they met Duffy inside, according to the criminal complaint.

A total of 124 cats, including three kittens — all with respiratory infections — were discovered living amid dried cat feces and vomit. The cats were also generally under-socialized, underweight, and malnourished, investigators said.

One cat skull was also recovered.

City inspectors found the home unfit for human habitation and boarded it up.

Conditions included:

• Air thick with ammonia from cat urine and feces
• Every surface of the inside floors, walls, and furniture was coated with mud-like substances determined to be dried cat feces and vomit
• There were several cat litter boxes, but all of them were full of feces
• There were holes in walls that some cats had gone into
• Cats were found inside furnace vents.
• Cats were found in a crawl space under the main floor

Nine cats were euthanized due to their medical conditions, police said.