Five goats were found dead behind an Aldi off Mountain Creek Road in Hamilton County, Tennessee, last September, and investigators say a veterinary report pointed to a grim cause: severe malnutrition and starvation. Months later, a Hamilton County grand jury has indicted 74-year-old David Eck on 13 counts of animal cruelty and two counts of criminal trespassing in connection with the case.
According to local3news.com, the indictment states that the animals' deaths occurred between September 2025 and April 2026. Investigators had traced the dead goats to a property on Suck Creek Road, according to a One Green Planet report on the case, which described Eck as a man who had been staying at the property but did not own it.
A separate account from newschannel9.com reported that investigators sent femur bones recovered from the scene to a laboratory. The results, per that report, showed the goats had experienced severe malnutrition and starvation before they died.
A Property Already Under Scrutiny
The Suck Creek property wasn't new to animal-welfare intervention. An October 2025 account from the same station described how the Tennessee Department of Agriculture helped seize a dog, 27 goats, two horses and a donkey from the residence, after Eck's dog had already been taken by the Humane Society weeks earlier when it was found with no shelter, food, or water.
Per the One Green Planet report, investigators at the property found roughly two dozen additional goats, two horses and a donkey, with 13 of the goats described as underweight. The donkey was reportedly still wearing an auction tag. The same report described the ground as severely eroded and mostly mud, muck, feces and animal bones, according to an arrest report cited in the piece, and said officers noted the animals appeared to be Eck's companions rather than livestock — among them three ducks reported to be walking on a bed while malnourished, in a scene deputies encountered when they found Eck living on a houseboat with ducks, cats, dogs, chickens, roosters, mice, fish and a turkey.
Court Orders and a Neighbor's Years of Calls
The surviving animals required professional treatment from local rescues, local3news.com reported. One Green Planet's account adds that the animals seized by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture are now on a farm in Soddy-Daisy, where Adam Presley took them in — including a burro named Jinny.
Courts have since moved to restrict Eck's access to animals and to the property itself. Judge Amanda Dunn ruled that he can no longer come onto the Suck Creek property without law enforcement present, and local3news.com reported that he is no longer allowed to own animals of any kind. Separately, an April report from the Times Free Press said Judge Lila Statom barred Eck from owning pets or livestock while his case remains pending.
One Green Planet's reporting says a neighbor, Lina Hart, called police, the county and the state about the property for four years before charges were filed, and that an existing animal-ownership ban had already failed to stop Eck's animal ownership. The outlet's account also describes a petition tied to the case asking for mandatory mental health counseling as part of any sentencing. Eck has not been convicted, and through his attorney, Josh Weiss, he denies the allegations of cruelty and abuse, per that same report.
A Regulatory Gap Neighbors Say Let the Case Slip Through
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture states on its website that when it receives a livestock-cruelty complaint, the matter is forwarded to a TDA Animal Health Official, who notifies law enforcement and coordinates an inspection, according to the agency's livestock welfare page. One Green Planet's reporting frames the case as an example of livestock neglect falling into a gap between agriculture departments and animal services, noting that animal control complaints are often logged and closed without a visit.
Eck has been arrested four times since the goats were found behind the store, according to the One Green Planet account, and he reportedly returned to the Suck Creek Road property before courts moved to evict him and bar his return without law enforcement. The case remains pending in Hamilton County, with the underlying criminal charges yet to be resolved.
