New York mother pleads not guilty to torturing family pets, abusing her children

Story here. Excerpt:

'RIVERHEAD, N.Y. - A woman pleaded not guilty Thursday to abusing her children and family pets, sometimes forcing the children to witness her torturing animals to death, prosecutors said.

"This is a case where a mother subjected her children to the most unimaginable and horrific living conditions that I have ever seen," Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said. "These kids were beaten, they were starved, they lived in absolutely horrendous conditions within their own household and this was done intentionally by the mother."

Sharon McDonough, 43, killed numerous kittens and dogs, stashing the dead cats in the trash, and burying 42 dead dogs in the backyard of her Selden, Long Island, home, Spota said. The dogs were buried, he said, because some had identifying microchips implanted in them and McDonough feared being discovered if the carcasses were found in the trash. '