OAN’s Abril Elfi
11:41 AM – Wednesday, August 23, 2023
A New Mexico woman who allegedly faked her own death after boiling puppies in front of her children was found and arrested.
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On Thursday, 58-year-old Martha Crouch was arrested by Huerfano County Sheriff’s deputies after she faked her own death in 2021 following her pleading guilty to child and animal abuse.
According to the press, officials had responded to a call for a man having a medical emergency in a trailer home.
Reportedly, officials found Timothy Crouch, 62, dead on his front lawn after he reportedly collapsed.
The sheriff’s office stated that when investigators tried to enter the home they were denied access and told “Timothy Crouch had extensive health issues and died outside, not inside the home.”
Authorities were reportedly asked to conduct a welfare check at the same home the following day, where they discovered that Martha Crouch was Timothy’s spouse.
Martha Crouch pleaded guilty to child and animal abuse charges in 2019 and later obtained a plea deal on one felony conviction.
Some of her children accused her of using cooking utensils to beat them, chaining one child to a bed, allegedly abusing a pregnant 14-year-old daughter so badly that she miscarried, and shooting one child’s dog as punishment. She was also accused of boiling puppies in front of her kids.
The mother of the 15 children then allegedly disappeared in 2021.
Her 14-year-old daughter had not been seen or heard from in the last three years but was never reported to authorities as a missing person.
Authorities ultimately discovered a false room between the trailer’s kitchen and bathroom, where they found the mother and the missing teen alive and hiding.
Martha is being held at the Huerfano County jail on a $5,000 bond and the teen has been placed under the care of the Department of Social Services.
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By: OAN
