Hours after 911 call, 10 puppies died after being left in car overnight: What happened?

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — OzarksFirst is taking a deeper dive into charges filed against a Pittsburg, Missouri woman charged with 13 misdemeanors of Animal Abuse.

Macey Castell is accused of leaving 13 cockapoo puppies in her car overnight on July 14 in a lot near Friends Karaoke Bar on West Battlefield, where 10 died from the incident.

Michelle Rehkop with Rescue One says animals left in cars is a completely preventable situation.

“It’s unnecessary and very unfortunate that this had to occur, that the animals had to suffer in a way that they did and that it was preventable. 100% preventable,” Rehkop said.

According to court documents, Casteel was on her way to Oklahoma to sell the puppies. She stopped in Springfield and was at an establishment near that lot around 1:30 a.m.

The first initial 911 call about the puppies was at 3:17 a.m., but the caller told authorities the dogs had been in the car for at least three hours.

Casteel then told police she went to a friend’s house and had fallen asleep.

When she woke up, she asked for a ride back to the area, but that friend said no.

Casteel says she then fell back asleep.

“It’s very hard to believe that that is a situation that I personally would, you know, find myself in,” Rehkop said. “It just doesn’t make any sense that someone would not immediately have the animals in a cooler environment and not locked in a car overnight in extreme temperatures.”

Casteel says she then walked back to the area, where she was met with police.

OzarksFirst took a closer look at those court documents.

Although the first 911 came in at 3:17 a.m., according to the probable cause statement, an SPD officer did not show up to the car until 6:22 a.m.

How did it take three hours and five minutes for an officer to respond?

SPD Spokesperson Cris Swaters confirmed the delay, and said in a statement, “The call for service in reference to the animal call at 3:17 a.m. on July 14 was a priority three call. The officer who responded at 6:10 a.m. was the first available officer to respond to that call. There are many factors involved in call prioritization and officer response including time of day, officer availability and call load.”

She confirms during the response after 6 a.m.

“The officer requested AC at 6:12—but they wouldn’t respond and said they would check when they came on duty at 0900,” said Swaters.

SPD then scheduled a response for 9 a.m., and it was during that response they were able to open the car and get the puppies out.

We reached out to Springfield-Greene County Animal Control who gave a statement that reads, “Springfield-Greene County Animal Control ensures an officer is available to respond to emergency situations after regular business hours. Due to limited capacity, when situations arise in the middle of the night, Animal Control partners with police and other first responders to coordinate a response.”

The officer who wrote the probable cause statement says when they were able to get the car door open, there were several dogs in crates, piled on top of each other.

One dog was even hiding under the passenger seat.

Animal Control did transport some puppies to an emergency vet clinic, but several puppies had to be euthanized due to heat-related illness.

“It’s heartbreaking because I can’t fathom personally knowing I had animals in my vehicle in the heat and not getting them out of that in that moment,” Rehkop said.

As for the criminal courts, defense attorney Adam Woody, who is not connected to the case, says the charges are misdemeanors for a reason.

“Whether it any animal abuse case, whether it result in death or substantial injury, even torture, believe it or not, is a misdemeanor offense,” Woody said. “If you have custody of an animal and you failed to provide adequate care, if that resulted substantial harm to the animal, even death, that is a misdemeanor offense. It is a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to one year in the county jail or up to a $2,000 fine or a combination, but it is a misdemeanor. There is no felony offense at this point for any type of felony or any type of animal abuse. There is no felony for that.”

He says there is talk in Jefferson City about creating first-offense felonies for animal abuse.

“I do believe that there have been many people in the state legislature that are pushing some sort of legislation to create a first-offense felony animal abuse. So I think that is in the pipeline,” Woody said. “I would not be shocked to see that in the next legislative session or two.”

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