But her husband and a family friend who saw it happen say it was no accident.
In a written police statement, Madden’s husband, Joey, said his two young children tied a belt around the dog’s neck and were dragging it around the house trying to “walk” it. When he saw they were hurting the puppy, he sent the older child to her room and spanked the 2-year-old’s diaper. The spanking “enraged” his wife, he said.
Norma Madden picked up the dog and began choking it and threw the puppy against the wall, the report stated.
“Certainly the fact that a dog was killed is extreme,” said Butler Twp. police Lt. Chris Guthrie.
Joey Madden said tonight he tried to intervene to save the ShiChi pup.
“She finally stopped but it was too late, the puppy was almost gone, then it died, and Norma laughed,” he said.
Montgomery County Children Services has an open investigation regarding Norma Madden, but her husband said he doesn’t believe the children are at risk of harm.
“The kids and stuff … safety is no problem. They’re not in any danger or anything like that. It’s just a bad situation that happened,” said Joey Madden. “It needed dealt with and so that’s why I called the police. That way, you know, get her whatever help and stuff she needed and get everything back in order because … you just can’t let it go.”
Joey Madden said his wife went to a hospital seeking mental health treatment.
Norma Madden is currently serving a one-year probation stemming from a May theft conviction for stealing from Walmart, online Vandalia Municipal Court records show.
She pleaded not guilty during her Aug. 3 arraignment on a charge of cruelty to a companion animal, a first-degree misdemeanor. Her case was referred to a public defender and she is next scheduled to appear Aug. 25, online court records show.