(Stillwater, Okla.) – The caretaker neglect trial for a woman whose disabled husband and his two large dogs were found dead inside a rural Stillwater trailer that allegedly lacked adequate food, a telephone, running water, utilities and transportation has been postponed due to a court-appointed attorney’s request for a psychological evaluation of the defendant.
Jennifer Lynn Denton, 37, who remains jailed on $40,000 bail, had been scheduled to be tried on Oct. 29 on one count each of neglect by caretaker and financial neglect by caretaker, along with two counts of animal cruelty. Her trial date was stricken last week after defense attorney Virginia Banks advised the judge that she is seeking a psychological evaluation of Denton.
Denton, who was arrested by Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Rockford Brown in Sayre on Nov. 28, 2017, has now been ordered to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing on Nov. 19 before Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler.
On Nov. 20 of last year, the sheriff’s investigator began looking into the death of Wade Denton, whose decaying remains were found inside a rural Stillwater trailer home in the 4100 block of E. 19 Street, along with two large dead dogs, according to Brown’s affidavit.
“According to the medical examiner’s investigator Rory Garien, Wade’s body was extremely dry, indicating several months of decay,” the affidavit said. His remains had been partially consumed by one or both of the dogs, the affidavit alleged.
“Wade had lived at the residence with wife (Jennifer Denton) for several years,” the affidavit alleged.
When the sheriff’s investigator and state crime bureau agent Dannie Sanders talked to the deceased man’s wife and her attorney in Sayre, “Jennifer confirmed that she was Wade’s sole caregiver,” the affidavit alleged.
“Wade was disabled because he was completely blind and had no one else to bring him food, water, and dog food for his two dogs, Daniel and Duke, a Great Pyrenees and a hound dog,” the affidavit alleged.
“Wade had no cellular phone to call anyone for help. Jennifer paid all the bills including the electric bill that would’ve kept the well water running and heat and air,” in the rural home, the affidavit alleged.
“Jennifer told us that the water well had quit working about six months prior to her departure from the residence; therefore, Wade would’ve had no access to fresh running water from around September 2016,” the sheriff’s investigator alleged in his affidavit.
“Jennifer initially told us she left March 3rd and never went back to the trailer. She then amended her statement and said that she went back every 2-3 days in order to check on him up until July 4th and never returned after that,” the sheriff’s investigator alleged in his affidavit.
“Jennifer said that she made no arrangements for anyone to bring Wade, Daniel and Duke water or food and knew that they had no access nor the ability to get it from inside the trailer,” the affidavit alleged.
Her boyfriend, who said that every time they went to the property he was along, said “he knew this because after she left in March, he and Jennifer began living in her Ford Edge and he went wherever the car went,” the affidavit alleged.
“Jennifer also said that she continued to use Wade’s SSI funds every month including the payment of $1,120 in November 2017,” the affidavit alleged. The account had a balance of 35 cents as of Nov. 27, 2017, the affidavit said.
The defendant’s boyfriend said “he would ask her if she had made arrangements to care for Wade,” the affidavit alleged.
The defendant’s boyfriend said “they had gone to Stillwater in October 2017 and Jennifer told him that Wade was living with a friend,” the affidavit alleged.
“Jennifer was trusted to take care of Wade, but instead abandoned him alone and without any care. As a result of this, she deprived the family pets, Daniel and Duke, of water, food and veterinary care – thereby leading to a cruel death from dehydration, and death that could have been prevented had she made arrangements for the care of Wade, Daniel and Duke,” the sheriff’s investigator alleged in his affidavit.
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