18-year-old babysitter charged with animal cruelty, accused of ‘violently’ killing dog in Waukesha County
UPDATE 1/31/2024: The dog's family has created a GoFundMe page to help with attorney's fees and a cremation process.
"This will go to Batman's cremation, as we want to give him the remembrance he deserves, the attorney we will be hiring, the bills accumulated while we are grieving and court hearings we are going to. All of the money left over will be going to animal shelters throughout the county. Any amount will be greatly appreciated," the page said.
To view the GoFundMe, click here.
WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- As the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate what led up to the violent killing of a family’s dog last week, the woman accused made her first court appearance Monday afternoon for an arraignment hearing.
Kielee Sonnemann, 18, faces one count of mistreatment of animals with the use of a dangerous weapon — a class I felony punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 or up to three years in prison if convicted.
However, a weapon enhancer allows a judge to add on no more than four years on top of that.
Court documents on Monday said Sonnemann was watching over a 4-year-old girl and the family’s 8-year-old Chihuahua named Batman, while acting as a babysitter.
In the report, Sonnemann said “she just wanted the dog to leave her alone because he was biting her,” before continuing to say, “she asked the dog to stop and kind of shooed him away a little bit and then put him in the bedroom.”
But nearly 24 hours after that, Batman was found dead by the young girl’s 11-year-old sister, hidden under a pile of stuffed animals and blankets in her room with a stab wound on his right side and a white plastic bag wrapped around his head.
CBS 58’s Ellie Nakamoto-White spoke with Batman’s owners exclusively on Sunday, who said they hadn’t been able to find this dog when they returned home on Thursday, and that Sonnemann had even helped them look for the missing pet for about 30 minutes before she went home.
Documents revealed Sonnemann may have used “small scissors” which were found inside of a drawer near his body that “appeared to have blood on them.”
From that point on, records said Sonnemann’s memory wasn’t clear.
“[Sonnemann] then states that she does not remember doing anything but that when she gets mad and lashes out, everything goes blank and she does not remember,” documents said. “The defendant stated she very well could have hurt the dog, but she did not remember it.”
Police then said Sonnemann “stated that maybe a bunch of little things were adding up and could have caused her to get mad.”
“[Sonnemann] stated that the [4-year-old] girl was with her, and she probably saw her kicking the dog,” the complaint said.
On Monday, Waukesha County Court Commissioner David Herring called the allegations a “violent act.”
“I don’t know what affirmative defenses with a yelping Chihuahua could do, you lock it in a room and you call it good, I don’t know, I’ll leave it at that,” Herring said.
The court ordered Sonnemann not be allowed to babysit further, have zero contact with the family involved, and any time with pets or minors must be monitored.
Her next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 7. A cash bond was set at $15,000.
CBS 58 also attempted to speak with Sonnemann’s mother who attended the hearing Monday, but she declined to comment.