Monona County, IA - An Iowa woman's facing more charges of animal abuse after investigators in Monona County  linked her to another case of dog dumping. 

At Denise Withee's Mapleton, IA home,  a bright red bio-hazard tag is taped on the front door.  Sheriff Jeff Pratt says, "a lot of dog feces, a lot of dogs in the residence."
Even though deputies took half a dozen dogs from Withee's home August 1st,  you can still smell the stench offending neighbors for weeks. Ashley Ramp and her friends live near the house and walk their own dogs by the house. "It just smelled really gross. There's no describing it."

Deputies believe Withee dumped a couple dozen dogs on a ten mile stretch of County Road L-12 between Turin and Rodney, Iowa. Nine of them were dying and in such bad shape they had to be put down right away.

Sgt. Roger Krohn says, "It appears they were put in the back of a vehicle and just thrown out randomly all over the county."

The rest of the 40 or so surviving dogs, from Dobermans to Labradoodles are being cared for at the Sioux City Humane Society. Jerry Dominicak says, "They were living in wet conditions, probably having to lay and sleep in their own feces and urine."  Most of the Iowa dogs can be saved, but two dozen dogs in Nebraska didn't make it. Withee is charged with abandoning thirty animals near Grand Island.  Sgt. Krohn says, "I can't imagine someone on this scale dumping these animals."

Once deputies get an accurate count on the number of dogs, Withee will be charged with one count of animal abandonment and neglect charges for each dog. She also faces thousands of dollars of fines and the cost of caring for the dogs. Withee was a groomer at one time and then took on breeding and selling dogs. Investigators are getting more complaints accusing her of shady dealings. The 45-year-old is in a Grand Island hospital, undergoing a pyschiatric evaluation.

Authorities were able to trace the dogs to Withee through a tracking microchip placed in some of the dogs.

Reported by Michelle Bandur;michelle@action3news.com

Posted by Jen Kucirek, jkucirek@action3news.com.