MARATHON, Fla. – Roughly 24 hours after she bonded out of the Monroe County jail after deputies accused her of drowning her Schnauzer puppy, Delaine Lowry was back behind bars after authorities said she tried to break into an animal shelter Wednesday to “steal dogs that previously belonged to her.”
Lowry, 72, was first arrested on an aggravated animal cruelty charge on Monday after deputies said she suffocated and drowned a 6-to-10-month-old puppy in a bag outside her home on Big Pine Key; jail records show she was released Tuesday evening on a $35,000 bond. She’s now facing burglary and criminal mischief charges.
Recommended Videos
According to an arrest report from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Lowry’s husband called someone — who then called MCSO just before 5:30 p.m. — to report that his wife was breaking into the Florida Keys SPCA Marathon Campus, located at 10550 Aviation Blvd., to “retrieve her dogs.”
Deputies said surveillance video showed Lowry “arrive at the SPCA with her husband, climb over the fence to the closed business, appear to try and enter the business and then climb dog crates to jump back over the locked fence.”
Lowry damaged a door in the process, causing $600 in damage, the report states.
Deputies wrote that an SPCA official told deputies that “the dogs Delaine was attempting to steal back were previously hers and (her husband’s), but (her husband) signed over ownership of the dogs to the SPCA.”
Authorities said they went back to the couple’s home on Palmetto Avenue on Big Pine Key and took Lowry, wearing the same clothes as she was during the break-in attempt, into custody.
During an interview at MCSO’s Marathon substation, Lowry claimed she didn’t know why she was being spoken to and claimed to not know what the SPCA was, deputies said. That’s in spite of the fact that SPCA staff told deputies that they knew her personally, the report states.
Jail records show she’s back in MCSO’s Key West jail facility with no bond listed as of Thursday morning.
She’s set to be arraigned on the burglary case on Dec. 3 with another court hearing scheduled on the animal cruelty case for Dec. 5.