A woman was arrested recently on charges of cruelty to animals after Forsyth County authorities said they found dead dogs inside a van parked at a hotel.
Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman said in a video posted to the sheriff's office's social media page Friday that deputies were called to the hotel in February to a report of a suspicious vehicle that had been parked there for some time.
"As (the deputies) start to look at the van, to run the tag and the VIN number and do those kinds of things to determine if the van is stolen or if there's anything suspicious about it, in the back of the van they see a dog crate," Freeman said. "In that dog crate were what looked to be the remains of two puppies."
Freeman said investigators ultimately learned that the van belonged to Anastasia Keithette Jackson. He said deputies were ultimately able to make contact with her to ask about how the van and the dogs ended up there.
"She tells us 'I left the dogs and the person I got them from in Arizona was going to go get them,'" Freeman said. "I don't know the last time you traveled to Arizona, but I don't think you can leave a dog in a car from the driving time or flying time from Arizona."
Freeman said Jackson was later found in Alabama and arrested and brought back to Forsyth County. She was booked into the Forsyth County Jail on June 18 where she remains as of Friday morning on more than $33,000 bond on two felony charges of felony cruelty to animals.
"Anastasia left those dogs with no water, no food and she left them to die, yet she's sitting in our jail and guess what we do? I give her three meals a day and a nice, comfortable place to rest," Freeman said. "I hope she's comfortable over there...I hope a Forsyth County jury does justice for Anastasia based on the facts of the case, because she sure didn't do it for these animals."
