‘Most horrific scenes‘: Parents arrested after infant found with raccoons, decomposing goat

HONEA PATH, S.C. (FOX Carolina/Gray News) - Authorities in South Carolina say two people were charged after an 8-month-old and over 40 animals were found living in unsanitary and unsafe conditions.

Honea Path police report they were asked to respond to a home on South Shirley Avenue by the Department of Social Services.

Officers said the residence was infested with a number of both living and dead animals, including raccoons, rabbits, dogs, cats and chickens. The body of a goat was found decomposing in a bathtub.

“Once my officers went inside. They discovered just piles of trash and animal feces. There were several different types of animals running around,” Honea Path Police Chief Chris Miller said. “Raccoons, chickens, cats, dogs. There was a dead goat in the bathtub in the bathroom that had been decomposing for several days.”

Animal feces and waste were also found throughout the residence, police said.

“It was just one of the most horrific scenes that I’ve ever been a part of in 30 years,” Miller said.

Over 40 animals were safely removed from the property and the 8-month-old child was placed in the care of a relative, according to police.

Officers said the infant’s parents, Kayla Renard and Nicholas Foley, were charged with unlawful conduct toward a child and ill treatment of animals.

Miller said the parents’ lack of emotion stood out the most.

“Sitting there calm and really no emotion, no facial expressions,” Miller ed. “You would think that they’d be a little upset that someone was taking their 8-month-old baby, that the police were there and discovered the horrific conditions of this house. You would think that they would have to know that they were in trouble.”

Renard and Foley were booked into the Anderson County Detention Center. Bond was set at $10,000 each.

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