By Eric Stevick and Diana Hefley
The Daily Herald
EVERETT, Wash. — A Granite Falls woman awaiting sentencing on six counts of animal cruelty died Wednesday night in the Snohomish County Jail.
Diane Cowling, 65, was scheduled to be sentenced Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
“The cause of death is pending an autopsy,” Snohomish County Sheriff’s Lt. Kathi Lang said Thursday.
Cowling has been behind bars since Jan. 24.
Prosecutors alleged that Diane Cowling and her son, Michael Cowling, 36, were criminally negligent when they allowed more than two dozen cats starve to death.
Both Cowlings were arrested a few days after police found 31 dead animals and three emaciated cats inside the Granite Falls house they once owned. They both have pleaded guilty.
The house was in foreclosure, and the dead animals were discovered Jan. 21 by a locksmith hired by the mortgage company to change the locks.
Prosecutors expected to ask that Cowling serve a year in jail.
Michael Cowling was sentenced in March to five months in jail for his part in the case. At the sentencing, a longtime friend told the judge that Michael Cowling tried to help his mother. The man indicated that the Diane Cowling was living with mental illness and had resisted giving away any animals even when the situation grew out of control.
Police found three living cats in the house, which was filled with feces and animal carcasses.
Republished with permission from The Daily Herald