Report: ‘Smell of death’ coming from hotel room filled with live, dead animals

LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) - An arrest report revealed new details about a severe case of animal hoarding in Las Vegas.

Timothy Miller and Carolyn Luke were arrested after Boulder City Police said they found dead animals in their car during a traffic stop on March 29.

Las Vegas City Animal Control said they needed assistance investigating after receiving a call from the Boulder City Police Department about their traffic with Miller and Luke.

Boulder City police said the couple admitted to having more animals at two other locations - an unnamed hotel and their home.

At the unnamed hotel, staff evicted Miller and Luke from their room due to many animal complaints from other guests. The complaints ranged from “quantity of animals and the smell of death from the room.”

The hotel said the couple also violated several hotel policies. Police said a hotel reservation was made by Miller for March 28 through March 30.

At the hotel, 39 guinea pigs, 1 rabbit, 2 hamsters, 21 live dogs and 12 dead dogs were found, according to authorities.

Inside their home, officers found dogs living in their feces, as well as multiple filthy aquariums, bird cages and hamster enclosures. The “ammonia smell” caused officers’ lungs to burn and eyes to water.

Turtles with soft shells were found, indicating a lack of proper diet and hydration. Documents show they also discovered some 42 deceased animals in the freezer, according to the arrest report.

Authorities said approximately 20 live dogs and 10 dead dogs were found inside the home.

In a taped interview with a detective, Luke admitted she was having ongoing issues with her neighbor, which prompted her to take multiple animals to the hotel to hide them from neighbors and animal control officers because she knew she was not supposed to have too many animals.

She also admitted that she did not allow animal control officers to go inside the residence during a previous visit. She stated she wanted to clean the residence before allowing officers inside, according to authorities.

Luke said the dogs’ deaths were due to heatstroke and called it a “tragedy.”

Miller and Luke said they put the dogs in a bag and kept them in the hotel room until they were able to bury or cremate them. Officers noted there was never a call to animal control or even self-transporting the sick dogs to the vet or hospital.

Luke told the detective she and Miller were on the way to the state line to give her friend multiple guinea pigs as it was getting too difficult for them to take care of. She told officers she did not believe there were dead guinea pigs in the car as they’d only been in there for 30 minutes and she fed them before they left the home.

Luke told authorities that there would not be any dead animals in her home despite dozens of animals being found lifeless. She often referred to them as her “babies” and said she and Miller cared for all the animals.

Detectives attempted to complete a taped interview with Miller but he declined to answer without his attorney present, according to the report.

Miller and Luke told authorities the exact amount of dead and live animals at the locations, according to the arrest report.

Miller and Luke each face 14 counts of willful and malicious torture of an animal.