Macon woman accused of smothering cats ‘to end their suffering’
A Macon woman has been charged with multiple counts of cruelty to animals for allegedly smothering “multiple” cats at a house on Walnut Street at the northwestern edge of downtown.
The woman, Maria Tonya Williams, was named in a formal accusation filed last week in Bibb County Superior Court.
Williams, whose age was not mentioned in court documents, was arrested in the case in December, charged with nine counts of cruelty to animals and three counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. It was not immediately clear how many cats may have been killed or how, exactly, they died.
A Bibb sheriff’s report noted at the time that “several” cats and dogs had been removed from Williams’ house in the 1500 block of Walnut, just east of Interstate 75.
On Dec. 15, a sheriff’s deputy went to Williams’ home and heard Williams talking to an animal control officer. The deputy’s write-up said Williams “admitted to smothering cats to end their suffering.”
According to language in an accusation filed Aug. 11 by Bibb prosecutors, Williams “did maliciously cause the death of an animal, multiple cats, by smothering said cats.”
Further details were not noted.