Update: Couple charged with cruelty after police find dead dog, snake -- charges dropped

Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press
·2 min read
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EDITOR'S NOTE; The cruelty charges against Barbara Bachelder and Nicholas Ray Dunn were dismissed on Aug. 25, 2022.

WINCHESTER, Ind. — A New Castle couple have been accused of leaving a dog and snake behind to starve to death when they moved out of a Randolph County home last September.

Barbara L. Bachelder, 28, and Nicholas Ray Dale, 26, were each charged this week in Randolph Superior Court with cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail.

According to documents filed by Randolph County Prosecutor David Daly's office, the remains of the dog — "In a metal wire crate with no food or water present" — were found in the rental home, along Railroad Street in Losantville, "a number of months" after Bachelder and Dale had moved out.

The deceased dog was emaciated, a Losantville officer reported, and the town marshal, Tony Hinshaw, believed "the canine had eaten its own leg in a possible attempt to stay alive."

The dead snake was found in a glass "snake enclosure," an affidavit said.

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Interviewed by police last month, Dale maintained the dog and snake were the property of a "buddy" from Hagerstown who was supposed to pick them up at the Losantville house the day Dale and Bachelder had moved out in September.

Dale was unable to provide any contact information for that man, saying since moving to New Castle, he and Bachelder had "lost friendship and all ties" to him.

In her statement to police, Bachelder referred only to the snake being left in the house, ostensibly for the Hagerstown man to pick up.

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The New Castle residents were not arrested. Initial hearings in their cases are set for March 23.

In 2013, Dale — then of Hagerstown — was convicted of driving with a controlled substance in his system in Wayne County.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Charges dropped against New Castle pair after police find dead dog, snake