Thurston woman faces animal cruelty charges after 2 dogs found dead in abandoned RV
A 26-year-old Thurston County woman has been charged with animal cruelty after she allegedly left her two dogs to die in a RV trailer last month.
Rachelle Faythe-Nicole Pehl is accused of leaving the dogs unattended in an RV parked on the 10400 block of Littlerock Road Southwest, according to court records.
The owner of the property found the dogs decaying in the RV and called 911 on April 22. Prosecutors charged Pehl on April 30 with two-counts of first-degree animal cruelty.
Court records identified the dogs as Cody, a seven-year-old male German shepherd or German shepherd mix, and Harvi, a four-year-old female husky or husky mix.
Judge John Skinder found probable cause for first-degree animal cruelty during Pehl’s preliminary appearance in Thurston County Superior Court on April 29.
Skinder also ordered Pehl to be released on her personal recognizance with conditions, including that she abides by a curfew at her mother’s home.
Court records indicate Pehl has no known adult criminal convictions.
A probable cause statement describes the investigation into the alleged crimes from the perspective of law enforcement.
A Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to the RV and observed the dead dogs lying next to each other inside.
The dogs had decayed to mostly fur and bones and were surrounded by a mess of household items and feces, according to the statement. The blinds over the windows reportedly appeared damaged and bent and the dog’s nails appeared dull and damaged.
Based on the scene, the deputy presumed the dogs had been left alone for a long time and tried to escape through the windows to no avail.
The property owner told the deputy the RV belonged to Pehl. She had been paying the property owner to park there for years, but the statement says she had stopped paying about 18 months ago.
At the end of February, the property owner visited the RV and posted a “notice of intent to remove an abandoned vehicle,” according to the statement.
He told the deputy the dogs usually barked from a chain-linked kennel on the parcel when he approached. The statement says there was no one home and no barking when he visited.
The property owner later met Pehl at a pub in east Thurston County where she worked. He reportedly offered to house the dogs on another property he owned in Elma.
He told the deputy Pehl was “very dismissive” of the dogs and said they had been re-homed to her mother’s house, according to the statement.
A few weeks later, the property owner reportedly learned Pehl had been fired from the pub.
On April 24, the statement says the deputy entered the trailer with a search warrant and found multiple photos of Pehl and her family.
The bodies of the two dogs were removed from the trailer and sent to Joint Animal Services for a necropsy. A veterinarian examined the dogs and determined “with a high degree of certainty” that they died from starvation, per the statement.
Microchips were found on both dogs but they were listed as belonging to different owners. One dog reportedly belonged to Pehl and her parent while the other dog was registered to a different person.
The microchip company contacted Pehl’s parent who in turn contacted Joint Animal Services. The parent reported the dog registered to her had been re-homed to a couple in Aberdeen who had access to the trailer, according to the statement.
Pehl reportedly “insinuated” to the deputy that other people had access to the home.
However, the property owner told the deputy that nobody else was authorized to access the parcel. He added neighbors would have alerted him if strangers went to the property.
