Rosemount woman charged after 2 dogs were found dead in her apartment

A Rosemount woman is facing two felony counts of mistreatment of animals for reportedly abandoning two dogs inside an apartment unit in Burnsville.

Charging documents from Dakota County Court show Myrtis Yvonne Allen, 38, of Rosemount, reportedly neglected both of her dogs, reportedly leaving them alone inside an apartment unit for over two weeks.

On June 11, police officers searched an apartment building in Burnsville after getting complaints of a bad smell coming from one of its units. The caller who talked with the police said they hadn’t seen anyone in the unit for three months.

Court documents state that when the officer arrived, they discovered a strong odor coming from the door and a large number of flies.

Opening the door, police reportedly found the body of a decomposing dog at the bottom of the stairs and another dead dog upstairs. The unit was reportedly covered in dog feces but appeared vacant, with nothing in the apartment’s fridge.

Police said that on May 21, a noise complaint had been made at Allen’s apartment and officers made contact with her mother. The court document said at the time Allen’s mother told police her daughter had been overworking herself and that she was being brought to the hospital.

Neither were able to be contacted by police during the June 11 investigation.

According to the charging documents, Allen was later contacted by police on June 17. Allen told officers that she had been working several jobs and long hours, stating that the last time she checked the dogs was Memorial Day (May 26).

Allen also reportedly claimed that her vehicle had broken down and that she was unable to find somewhere else to temporarily take the dogs, as she didn’t want them to be surrendered.

Allen said that with all that was going on in her life, she lost track of time and never got back to her apartment to care for the dogs.

Allen faces up to four years in prison for both charges.