HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- A woman was charged with felony animal cruelty after Lawrence County investigators said she faked a pregnancy for seven months and then killed a dog to stage a miscarriage.
Johnny Parker said his wife, Anita Parker, had been fooling him for months into thinking she was pregnant.
Johnny Parker said Anita Parker has a troubled history involving drugs and said she told him seven months ago she was pregnant with a baby boy.
"I guess she pushed her belly out all the time, because she looked like she was, and she sends me pictures of the ultrasounds," said Johnny Parker.
He revealed Anita Parker would never let him go with her to the doctor's office to check on the baby. He said she would always make up an excuse or say the appointment had been pushed back to a later date.
Then Wednesday, while Johnny Parker was out, his wife called him saying she was cramping. When the worried husband arrived home, he found his wife covered in blood.
Anita Parker said she had a miscarriage and that she flushed her stillborn baby down the toilet. They went to the hospital, where Johnny Parker received a confusing bit of news from the doctor.
"Then they tell me, she wasn't pregnant, she never has been pregnant," said Johnny Parker.
After being checked out by medical professionals, the family said doctors told them Anita Parker was never pregnant.
When Johnny Parker went back to the home, that's when he discovered the mutilated 8-month-old Chihuahua dead in the garbage can. Investigators said Anita Parker killed the dog to use its blood and tissue to help stage the fake miscarriage.
Johnny Parker said he hasn't slept since Wednesday.
"It hurts like crap, man, about my dog. I loved that dog, man," he said.
WAFF reports that Parker was booked into the Lawrence County Jail on $7,000 bond.