Detective Sergeant Darrin Frommeyer of the McCracken County Sheriff's Department said they heard back from Graves County Attorney John Cunningham, who had been asked review the investigation to ensure no conflict of interest. "We had an independent look at it," Frommeyer said. He said necropsies done on the dogs included toxicology results, which tested for thousands of possible poisons, and results were negative. That indicates nothing intentional was done to to cause harm to the animals.
Frommeyer said the necropsies indicated that the cause of death for the five dogs was heat stroke or heat exhaustion. They were being kept in an outbuilding because the shelter was full.
Besides this controversy, which has angered some animal activists, the shelter has been very expensive for the county to operate. It was opened in 2011 when McCracken Fiscal Court broke partnership with the Humane Society in 2011 after one of its employees being charged with illegal euthanization of animals when a whistle-blower made recordings. Beau Anderson pled guilty to a lesser charge, and no longer works there.
The fiscal court is considering reestablishing its relationship with the Humane Society, which also has some new board members and policies.