A 66-year-old Wake County woman is facing felony animal cruelty charges after deputies say they found the skeletonized remains of dogs, including one crated in feces for more than a year, along with three starving kittens inside her home north of Raleigh. Karen Sue Tupman was arrested on September 11 following the discovery at a house on Pendleton Lake Road, according to officials.
Tupman was charged with three felony animal cruelty counts tied to the deaths of the dogs and three misdemeanor animal cruelty counts involving the kittens, as reported by CBS 17. Deputies found two unidentifiable skeletonized dogs in crates in the basement, per the arrest warrant, along with a third skeletonized dog identified as a Yorkie found in a crate, according to the magistrate and warrant. That same crate reportedly held a dog that had been dead for more than a year, sitting in a container full of feces, per the release conditions order.
A Wake County magistrate described the property, located off Possum Track Road just past Six Forks Road, as “shockingly vile.” The magistrate also reported that a deputy's eyes watered because of the overpowering smell inside the home, according to the release conditions order, and said deputies found multiple animals subjected to shocking conditions of suffering that eventually caused death, per the magistrate.
Three Kittens Found Starving
Alongside the dead dogs, deputies found three starving kittens still alive in the home — a tuxedo kitten named Biscuit, a gray and white kitten named Gravy, and a striped kitten named Waffle. A veterinarian who examined the surviving animals found them to be poorly underweight. Deputies said the suspect intentionally deprived the three kittens of necessary sustenance, per deputies.
Court charging documents filed on September 11 add further detail, identifying the two unnamed skeletonized dogs in official filings as “#1” and “#2,” alongside the skeletonized Yorkie named Mazie, who was found inside the crate full of feces, according to court charging summaries shared on Facebook. Despite the conditions inside the home, Tupman was reportedly trying to obtain more pets and needed to take some of her still-living animals to a veterinarian as part of an attempt to foster additional animals, per officials.
Bond, Charges, and What Comes Next
Tupman was held on a $50,000 secured bond at the Wake County Detention Center following her arrest. Her formal initial appearance in Wake County District Court is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Monday, September 14, following her arrest by Wake County sheriff's deputies, per the same Facebook court summary.
The felony counts against Tupman fall under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-360(a1) and (b), which classify maliciously killing an animal through intentional deprivation of necessary sustenance, or maliciously torturing, maiming, or disfiguring an animal, as a Class H felony, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. The misdemeanor counts tied to the kittens fall under § 14-360(a), which classifies intentionally overdriving, injuring, tormenting, or depriving an animal of necessary sustenance as a Class 1 misdemeanor, with each animal involved constituting a separate offense.
Under North Carolina's structured sentencing guidelines, a Class H felony carries a statutory sentence ranging from 4 to 39 months in prison depending on a defendant's prior criminal history, though first-time offenders may receive community or intermediate probation, according to Patrick Roberts Law. A Class 1 misdemeanor conviction, meanwhile, carries a maximum penalty of up to 120 days in jail per count, along with fines set at the judge's discretion, per Manning Law Firm. Facing three felony charges and three misdemeanor charges, Tupman faces potential prison exposure that will depend heavily on her prior record and the court's evaluation.
Why the Case Fell to the Sheriff's Office
The Pendleton Lake Road property sits in an unincorporated pocket of Wake County north of Raleigh, which is why the investigation was handled by Wake County sheriff's deputies and county animal control rather than Raleigh police. Wake County Animal Control enforces animal protection laws across unincorporated Wake County and nine contracting towns, while Raleigh, Cary, Garner, and Holly Springs maintain their own municipal animal control units within their police departments, according to Wake County Government.
The state also maintains broader infrastructure for reporting animal mistreatment. The North Carolina Department of Justice runs a statewide Animal Welfare Hotline to log complaints, though state guidelines require that active criminal cruelty investigations be carried out directly by local sheriff's departments or municipal animal control divisions. Wake County Animal Services leadership has also co-authored peer-reviewed research on multi-agency protocols for managing complex animal hoarding and severe neglect cases, reflecting a level of local expertise built specifically around cases like this one.
The case adds to a heavy local caseload of animal welfare enforcement. In 2025, Raleigh Police Animal Control handled more than 15,000 total calls for service and conducted 1,004 formal animal cruelty probes, according to Hoodline's prior reporting on the scale of animal welfare investigations across the metro area. It follows another recent Wake County case in which a Raleigh rover sitter faced felony charges after a French bulldog died caged in the June heat.
