A woman was arrested at the Orlando International Airport on March 18. What she’s accused of will make your heart sink.
According to a report from local station WFTV-9, Alison Agatha Lawrence was told by TSA that she didn’t have the proper documentation to bring her dog on a flight back in mid-December 2024.
Instead of calling someone to pick up the dog, or rescheduling her flight until proper paperwork was obtained, the 57-year-old allegedly drowned her own dog in the women’s bathroom. She allegedly then discarded her dog into a trash bin. Orlando police say she then boarded her flight as if nothing happened.
An airport employee later found the dead dog and alerted authorities. The breed of dog or its age at the time of its death are both unclear.
After a warrant was issued for her arrest, Lawrence was taken into police custody in Clermont, Florida, and was released later that same day after posting a $5,000 bond in Lake County jail. She was charged with one count of felony animal abuse — a third degree felony.
Channel 9 spoke to Lawrence’s neighbors on March 19, who recalled seeing Lawrence walking a white poodle in the neighborhood. They revealed how the suspect, whom they described as reserved, and the dog had been absent as of late.
One neighbor said, “Someone that would do such things has got to be disturbed upstairs.”
“This is yet another horrible example of why I filed Senate Bill 502: (Animal Cruelty Offences) related to animal cruelty, which strengthens criminal penalties for those who do harm to innocent animals,” State Senator Tom Leek said in a statement after he was notified of the incident. “It is my commitment to have this good bill pass the Florida Senate and the Florida House of Representatives and sent to Governor Ron DeSantis for his signature.”