Amanda Forrester / news@whmi.com

Multiple dogs, including more than a dozen found dead, were seized from a Burton house in what authorities are saying is a suspected hoarding situation, according to a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

The Burton Police Department went to the home around 8 p.m. on Saturday after receiving calls from the driver and passengers of a Your Ride bus.

“They told 911 that the smell was so horrific, that they thought there was a dead body in the house,” Burton Police Chief Brian Ross said during the press conference. “The smell was permeating off the people that lived here.”

The house, located on the 1200 block of Lasalle Avenue, was reportedly occupied by a mother and son. Ross said it appeared there was a hoarding situation in the house.

“There was an obvious hoarding situation here,” Ross said. “There was garbage everywhere, clothes everywhere. The dogs were mixed in wherever they could find an area to put a cage. They were in the bedrooms, in the basement, in hallways.”

The dogs found throughout the house were allegedly kept in deplorable conditions.

“The dogs were found in kennels stacked three high,” Ross said. “Dogs that were on top were urinating and defecating on the dogs underneath.”

A total of 57 dogs were taken out of the home. Some of the 13 dead dogs were allegedly found in freezers, in cages, under tarps and on the basement floor, authorities said. The dogs are described as “Shih Tzu and yorkie-types.”

Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson said there would be necropsies performed on the dogs to determine how they died.

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said it was “very difficult” to read the police report and probable cause paperwork. He announced that two occupants of the home are facing charges, but that the son allegedly has “some mental health issues” and will be evaluated by the forensic center to determine his competency and whether he is criminally culpable.

49-year-old Patricia Ann Catharine Stone, of Burton, is facing three charges, Leyton said. She is charged with cruelty to 25 or more animals, which is a 7-year felony, allowing animals to suffer unnecessarily, another 7-year felony and failure to dispose of a dead animal, which is a misdemeanor. Leyton said if convicted, the judge can sentence Stone to consecutive sentences.

Many of the 44 live dogs are ill, and Swanson said there are cases of parvo in the group. Parvo is a highly contagious, and potentially lethal, illness in dogs. None of the dogs found alive in the house have died, and the goal is to get them all healthy enough to be adopted.

“When you have animals that are alive and have to be cared for, that’s where our animal control and our veterinary services work,” Swanson said. “There’s disease within those 44 animals. We’re trying to save all of them.”

The owner of the dogs reportedly signed over the dogs to animal control. Michigan doesn’t have a forfeiture clause in cases like this, Swanson said. Owners must sign over the animals.

Authorities said it appears the situation became overwhelming for the occupants, but wanted to remind the public that there are resources before things get out of hand.

“There is one thing that I would like to say,” Burton Mayor Duane Haskins said. “As deplorable as the conditions are, just as the Sheriff and the Prosecutor were saying, the educational process about there being help out there for people that are getting overwhelmed by a situation, so it doesn’t turn into a situation like this.”

Authorities spent around five hours in the home removing the dogs, and said the house has been condemned.

The investigation is ongoing.

(photo credit: Genesee County Sheriff's Office)