7 cats found dead after Westmoreland County woman abandons them in home, police say
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Westmoreland County woman is charged with killing seven cats after police said she abandoned them inside her home.
Forty-six-year-old Erica Rojas is facing seven counts of aggravated cruelty to animals causing serious bodily injury or death and seven counts of cruelty to animals, court paperwork shows
According to the criminal complaint, a woman told police she had to hire a contractor to remove all the garbage in the home she had bought from Rojas on Smokey Mountain Drive in Unity Township. She said that while cleaning out the house, the contractor found seven dead cats.
The contractor told police that "the house was so bad that he had to purchase a Tyvek suit and a respirator to enter inside the residence," court paperwork says. He said while cleaning out the home, he found the bodies of seven cats in different rooms.
Detectives said Rojas told them that she had lived in the home with her children and cats. She said she left after she had "slipped into a deep depression" in August of 2024, going to live with her sister. Rojas told police that she came back every three days for the cats but eventually stopped going in November, the criminal complaint says.
Roja was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond, the Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office said.
Animal cruelty case is Pittsburgh's latest
The death of the seven cats is the latest case of alleged animal abuse in western Pennsylvania.
Earlier this month, a Greene County woman was charged after humane officers said they found two malnourished dogs in a home filled with feces.
Another animal cruelty case is under investigation after an animal shelter in Armstrong County said a severely emaciated and blind boxer was found wandering along the road.
The recent bitter cold also posed a threat to animals. A day before Christmas Eve, a stray dog was found in Beaver County with severe frostbite on all four paws. A cat was also rescued after it was found lying motionless on the snow in McKeesport, nearly frozen to death.
