(Stillwater, Okla.) – The wife of a disabled man who was found dead with his two large dogs inside a rural Stillwater trailer that lacked adequate food, a phone, running water, utilities and transportation has been given a 20-year prison sentence in accordance with a plea bargain with the prosecution that was approved in court by a Payne County judge last week.
Jennifer Lynn Denton, 37, avoided a Jan. 29 jury trial by pleading guilty on Jan. 2 to one count each of neglect by caretaker and financial neglect by caretaker, for which she was given two concurrent 10-year prison terms followed by two consecutive five-year prison terms for two counts of animal cruelty, to which she also pleaded guilty.
Her court-appointed defense attorney Virginia Banks told Payne County Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler, “She is aware this isn’t a particularly good offer,” from the prosecution for the four counts that carried a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
“I believe she is competent. She does have some mental health issues,” the attorney told the judge, who questioned Denton about her medication and whether it affected her ability to think clearly.
Denton has been in custody since her arrest by Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Rockford Brown in Sayre on Nov. 28, 2017, court records show.
On Nov. 20, 2017, 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 said.
“Wade had lived at the residence with wife (Jennifer Denton) for several years,” the affidavit said.
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 said.
“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 said.
“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 said.
“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 wrote in his affidavit.
“Jennifer initially told us she left March 3rd (of 2017) 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 (of 2017) and never returned after that,” the sheriff’s investigator wrote 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 said.
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 said.
“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 said. 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 said.
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 said.
“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 wrote in his affidavit.
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