An 8-year-old boy “smelled of death” when his father arrived at the home of the child’s mother to collect him, according to Indiana court documents. The woman, 32-year-old Jennifer Lair, kept a “filthy” house jam-packed with dead dogs, with “animal feces in almost every room,” often mixing with urine and blood, FOX 59 reported Thursday. Officers found at least five dead dogs on her property, along with several dead ducklings, chicks, and a cat. The stench from a caged and dead dog in Lair’s car could be smelled from “20 to 30 yards,” according to authorities. A number of live dogs and a pig in poor health were also confiscated. Lair was “lazy,” preferring to “play on her phone all day,” her son told a Department of Child Services employee. If he didn’t clean up the house himself, he added, he would get threatened with a “whoopin’.” Lair reportedly told deputies that she was unable to smell any foul odors and “blamed it on COVID,” they wrote in a court filing. The 32-year-old mother has been charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent and two counts of animal cruelty.
