Disturbing photos and graphic details revealed in apartment with 40 dead cats
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic images and descriptions that may not be suitable for all readers.
Nicole Fernandes cleaning at 1040 Chestnut St., Unit 4, in Paso Robles.
– After the Paso Robles Daily News published a story on Thursday about numerous dead cats found in a Paso Robles apartment, local residents reached out with their concerns about the tragedy and new information, including a member of the cleaning crew at the property.
On Aug. 16, San Luis Obispo County Animal Services responded to a call for service at 1040 Chestnut St., Unit 4, where they found 40 dead cats in extremely unsanitary conditions and rescued six live cats.
The apartment’s manager, Laurie Bryant, said she moved out of the apartment building a year ago. “We don’t really know what is going on [with the situation],” she said. She said she is working with the city and county to rectify the situation.
“This case remains under investigation,” said Dr. Eric Anderson, the county’s animal services manager. “So at this time, I don’t have any additional details to disclose,” he said.
Nicole Fernandes of Paso Robles said she was hired by a professional cleanup and restoration company and spent three days cleaning the apartment. Cleanup of the unit began around Oct. 8 and took about two weeks to complete.
“I was asked if I could help clean up a hoarder’s home, but it was so much worse than that,” she said in an interview. “I was just horrified. I work at a mortuary and have dealt with decomposition and I’ve never experienced something so bad as this. Nothing could compare to the horrible smell.”
Fernandes described using rakes and snow shovels to fill plastic bags with debris.
“I cried myself to sleep at night after the first day because we were just pulling back these layers,” she said. “It would be like a layer of cat sh*t, then two large empty bags of cat food, then a layer of cat sh*t, then a blanket on top covering it, and then another layer of cat sh*t. It was all concreted together three feet deep. I found most of the dead cats’ remains in the piles.”
“Someone had placed coffee grounds to try to cover up the smell and placed blankets on top of it all to make pathways to walk through the apartment,” she said.
“The one that was disturbing most to me was finding an empty cat food bag where a cat was trapped inside, dead, with two babies,” she said. “They were skeletons.”
There were at least 40 decomposed remains of cats and bones, she said.
“I’ve seen terrible things on episodes of the TV show Hoarders. “[That show] was the only time I have seen anything remotely close to this situation. But it was so much worse here.”
“The cats were dead for so long, there were no flies, there were no maggots or bugs,” she said. “This was not just a year or two of stuff,” she said. “It was years and years.”
“I asked tenants, what the f**k is going on here? How can you guys allow this to happen?” she said she asked them. “Every one of you is guilty because this is something you can smell walking up to the property,” she said she told the neighboring tenants.
The neighboring tenants told her a woman would come by the apartment about once a week and drop off a large bag of cat food inside and then close the door and leave, Fernandes said.
There were signs that someone had been coming and going, she said. “The electricity was still on in the unit, there was some food in the fridge that had not molded,” and there was “ice cream in the freezer that had never melted,” she said
There weren’t any liquor bottles, drug paraphernalia, or signs of addiction, she said.
Disturbing Images from inside the apartment
Nicole Fernandes said she took the photos that appear below.
The photos were verified with their metadata which confirms they were taken the afternoon of Wednesday, Oct. 9 at Chestnut Street in Paso Robles with an iPhone 15 Pro Max. Fernandes said she took the photos after doing two days of cleanup.
– Story by Publisher Scott David Brennan
How sad this happened.
I hope they crucify the son of a b****!!!
Bad that this happened. The woman they are accusing is Laurie Bryant, I wonder if it is the same person that contributes to police activities
EDIT: Yes it is her
Crazy how other tenants saw a woman come and go and leave cat food but no one knows who it is? Does this building not have cameras? Who is renting this unit and or paying for the electricity? I really hope this doesn’t get swept under the rug like all the shady things that happen in paso
How sad this happened.
I hope they crucify the son of a b****!!!
Bad that this happened. The woman they are accusing is Laurie Bryant, I wonder if it is the same person that contributes to police activities
EDIT: Yes it is her
Crazy how other tenants saw a woman come and go and leave cat food but no one knows who it is? Does this building not have cameras? Who is renting this unit and or paying for the electricity? I really hope this doesn’t get swept under the rug like all the shady things that happen in paso