Mary Donaldson (aka Mary Houghton Donaldson), 61, and Jessica Fecteau (aka Jessica Remy Fecteau aka Remy Fecteau aka Remi Fecteau), 25, each pleaded innocent to several misdemeanor charges, including lying to the police during the investigation.
FECTEAU HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH DROWNING A CAT AT THE "NO-KILL" SHELTER (AND IS SUSPECTED OF DROWNING PERHAPS DOZENS UPON DOZENS OF CATS AND KITTENS)
Police say the women took in dozens of cats but did not properly care for them or keep the shelter clean. One inspector characterized the building as a "cesspool of disease."
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| Cesspool of disease: Webster's House Animal Shelter |
Officials said they suspected other cats at the shelter were drowned, and court records stated 30 to 40 cats had disappeared between December 2015 and January 2016, when the investigation began.
Donaldson told police some of the cats had died and others were adopted, records state.
The bodies of three kittens and an adult cat, which had been kept in a freezer, were later examined by forensic veterinarian, Dr. Janet Carini of Bomoseen, who said it was “highly likely” those animals had been drowned as well.
According to court records, it was Fecteau, who now works at the Brattleboro Retreat, who actually drowned the cat that was the subject of the police investigation.
Fecteau at one point allegedly told Wilson she had drowned the cat to put it out of its suffering because Donaldson was too upset to do it herself.
Fecteau originally told Wilson no cat was ever drowned at the shelter, and when confronted by Wilson about the dead kittens, said it had drowned in a water dish.
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| Are these some of the drowned cats (Donaldson's Facebook page) |
Losee told police Donaldson had told her that “the cat had asked Mary to drown him but she just couldn’t do it so Remi did.”
“Remi told her that after the cat was done fighting, the cat apologized to Remi. Crystal was told that they could not take the cat to the vet because of a $4,000 bill they already owed.”
In addition, people at Webster’s House believed in “soul jumping” between the dying cats and the healthy cats, and that Donaldson told another volunteer that one of the cats was “destined to die to be reborn again.”
Remy Fecteau's Facebook page identifies himself as a trans male and also as a Buddhist. I don't believe Fecteau being transgender has anything to do with what horrific, stomach-churning things were allegedly done to these poor cats, but I wanted to try to clear up the confusion regarding the names (Jessica, Remi, Remy). Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that on this Facebook page, Fecteau identifies his religion as Buddhist, which I believe ascribes to reincarnation. That may explain this comment about "soul jumping". Also, on his Family page, he states that Mary Houghton Donaldson is his mother, but it may be that he sees her as a mother-figure rather than his biological mother.
Donaldson told police that the shelter took in many sick cats when their owners could no longer afford to pay for their care.
The investigation was first conducted by the Vermont Volunteer Services for Animals Humane Society, based in Bridgewater, and the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department, with the Chester Police later taking over the investigation.
The shelter closed this spring because its landlord started eviction proceedings this spring, not because of the criminal investigation. Other animal shelters took in many of the remaining cats, and many were in need of immediate medical care. One cat had to be euthanized.
Donaldson stated in court records she was self-employed and also receiving public assistance.
The two women appeared briefly before Judge Theresa DiMauro and were represented by different public defenders. They were released on personal recognizance after pleading innocent to the charges.
But the voluminous court file, which included extensive medical records from Springfield Animal Hospital, revealed a long list of increasingly sick cats at the shelter, in 2015, with unpaid bills in the thousands of dollars.
There were sworn statements from Donaldson and Fecteau, as well as others associated with the now-closed shelter, and it painted a picture of a deteriorating situation at the shelter and shelter volunteers endorsing “body jumping” to transfer the soul of a sick, dying cat into a healthy one.
At one point in December, there were an estimated 70 to 80 cats at the shelter, many of them sick. When the criminal investigation began in January, the number of cats was about half that number.
A state inspector noted the earlier cat population at 80, as did Ann Eddy of the Springfield Humane Society, who also counted about 80 cats, with sick and healthy cats intermingled.
Records state Donaldson repeatedly lied to Deputy Sheriff Robert North about the situation at the shelter, at one point telling North that Dr. Tony Castrignano of the Springfield Animal Hospital had put the shelter under “quarantine” and that the police could not come in.
When the deputy called the Springfield veterinarian about his actions, he laughed and said he hadn’t been at the shelter in years, records state, and certainly wouldn’t have said a police officer couldn’t come in.
Police investigators also questioned the Grafton farmer, Charles Dolloph, who buried the dead cats on his farm as a favor to Webster’s House. He turned over three large bags containing 22 dead cats and kittens to the police, animals he couldn’t bury because the ground was frozen.
(WCAX-TV - May 25, 2016)
Also article information garnered from the Rutland Herald
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