O'FALLON, Mo. — A woman is facing charges after two animals she was watching for family members were found dead days later.
Alicia Moellering was charged Thursday with two felony counts of possessing a controlled substance and two misdemeanor counts of animal neglect. A warrant was issued for her arrest, with a bond set at $5,000.
5 On Your Side interviewed the animals' owners in May. Tommie Love said her family went on vacation to Mexico and left their pets with Moellering, who was staying with them at the time and said she would watch them.
Editor's note: The above video was published May 1, 2023.
Their rescue dog, Gloria, was a doodle who was about to turn 5. Their rescue cat, Poodles, had just joined their family just about six weeks prior after Love found her stranded.
According to charging documents, Moellering was rarely seen on home surveillance cameras and lied numerous times about the pets' conditions.
Love said the concern began when she couldn't see the pets on their cameras. She saw Moellering leave for work and put one of their dogs in the crate, but Gloria was nowhere to be seen.
"We demanded to see Gloria on FaceTime and she refused," Love said.
That's when Love's son went to the 800 block of Bluff Brook Drive to see what was going on.
According to a probable cause statement, on April 30, Love's son found blood in the basement where Poodles was kept, and Gloria was missing. As he was leaving, he smelled a strong odor coming from Moellering's car and spotted Gloria's collar inside.
With permission from his mom, Love said her son grabbed a hammer and broke into the car while she was on FaceTime with him.
"He opened the car door and the first thing I saw was the cat's body and then he pulled some other stuff and moved the camera away quickly and said, 'I can't let you see this.' He found Gloria under a bunch of clothes in a laundry basket," Love said.
In a voluntary interview, Moellering admitted to police that she found the cat dead in the basement and one of the dogs with a fresh cut on its nose, according to the probable cause statement. She also knew one of the dogs was aggressive toward the cat and they were supposed to be kept separated.
Moellering said she wrapped Poodles in a blanket and kept her in a bathroom for two days. After being gone from the home for a day, she told police she found Gloria barely breathing in the backyard. She put her in the bathroom with a fan and then left for work. Gloria was dead when she returned.
Moellering said she "freaked out after being irresponsible and did not know what to do" so she put the pets in her car, according to the probable cause statement.
A necropsy found Gloria died from two 2-by-2-centimeter puncture wounds. Poodle's cause of death was not determined, but her ribs were fractured.
Moellering's purse and car were searched and police found a large number of capsules containing fentanyl, two bags containing methamphetamine and empty bags with crystal residue. Moellering admitted the drugs were hers.
"Moellering was more concerned with using narcotics than caring for the family pets who could not care for themselves," an O'Fallon police detective wrote in the probable cause statement. "Moellering had ample opportunity to be honest with the victim about the unfortunate death of the pets, but instead created a web of lies in an attempt to cover up the incident."
Moellering has a previous criminal history in both Missouri and Texas, including several counts of drug possession, police said. A judge barred her from having any animals in her custody.