Valley Brook Officers Describe Finding Alleged Puppy Mill, Dead Dog In Trash

New police body camera footage released Tuesday shows the moment Valley Brook police stumble upon what they said appears to be a puppy mill.

The home on Cox Avenue was covered in pet urine and feces, according to police when they arrived in late August.

Officers also reported they found a dead dog in the backyard.

Investigators have turned their findings over to the Oklahoma County district attorney to decide charges.

Currently, there are five counts of cruelty to animals filed against David Messenger.

Messenger was renting the home from Somporn Burgess.

Burgess said she was afraid of Messenger and added that he had not been paying his rent or paying utilities.

“It's my house. He told me he was going to move out, but he never moved out,” said Burgess.

She said she was unaware of the deplorable conditions inside the home, and how many dogs were inside.

Neighbors told officers on scene that they never saw the dogs go outside of the property.

Officers said they were originally called out to the house because neighbors reported a strong smell coming from the backyard.

Body camera footage shows officers searching the outside of the home and finding what appeared to be multiple shallow graves with crosses marking the plots.

“There are days that it does get hard, but that is the job that we have, and we do it for a reason. It is a calling, and that's what we want to do. We want to help,” said Valley Brook Officer Jessica Krnavek. “I love animals. I would not want my animals to live like that.”

Five dogs had to be removed from the home and taken to shelters.

They are all recovering well, according to Krnavek.

However, there is thousands of dollars in estimated clean-up and damage left at the home.

“We throw all the garbage out. Try to clean up right now. It's just smells, damaged pretty bad,” said Burgess.

Messenger is not in custody, but police are looking for him.

Officers said they do not have a photo of him at this time.