A woman was arrested this week for drowning her dog in a Florida airport bathroom because she didn’t have the right paperwork to let the pet fly with her.
Alison Lawrence, 57, was at Orlando International Airport on Dec. 16 to catch a flight to Colombia, but she didn’t have the paperwork required by LATAM Airlines for her dog, 9-year-old white schnauzer Tywinn, to fly with her.
A janitor at the airport saw Ms. Lawrence on the floor of a handicapped stall in a bathroom at the airport cleaning up a large amount of water as well as dog food.
After being called away for another cleaning task, the worker returned and found that the water and food had been cleaned up and that a heavy trash bag on the stall’s wall was filled, according to an affidavit for Ms. Lawrence’s arrest.
Inside the bag was trash, a dead Tywinn and a collar with a tag bearing Ms. Lawrence’s name and phone number. An autopsy performed this month found that Tywinn, who was still dripping wet when found in the bag, had been drowned.
Ms. Lawrence was able to successfully leave Orlando for Colombia and travel from there to Ecuador. The arrest affidavit didn’t say how or when she returned to America, but she was arrested in Lake County, Florida, on Tuesday. She subsequently posted $5,000 bail, according to court documents.
Ms. Lawrence, from Kenner, Louisiana, is charged with aggravated animal abuse, per inmate records.
