NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. — Animal rescuers said last Thursday a woman's body was taken from a home in New Kensington where she lived after it had been there "for months."
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There was a horrific discovery inside the bedroom where the woman's body was; someone duct-taped the door and all of the vents shut.
Police and animal rescuers at the home on Wednesday rescued 19 cats, along with a cat and dog that did not survive.
19 cats rescued from a Westmoreland County home. Last week an elderly woman’s body was found after being inside for months. The door and vents in her bedroom were duct taped shut. The story only on 11 at 11 @WPXI pic.twitter.com/xUWOQD7r7W
— Amy Hudak (@amy_hudak) August 22, 2019
"It's just heartbreaking anybody could put a living creature into these conditions," said Dr. Becky Morrow, the medical director at Frankie's Friends Cat Rescue.
The woman's body was taken to the coroner's office for an autopsy. She has been identified as 68-year-old Marcia Smock.
A necropsy will be performed on the cat and dog that did not survive to determine when they died.
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The cats that survived, mangy and malnourished, will be nursed back to health and be placed in new, loving, forever homes.
"It never ceases to amaze me the resilience of these animals and the forgiveness that they have," Morrow said.
Channel 11's Erin Clarke talked to neighbors. Watch her report above to hear what they had to say about Smock and her son.
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