I know the other Diane Eldrup who is a loving kind person who loves All animals and saved and cared for many, including our precious dog. This is an awful tragedy that is simply impossible to understand. Perhaps we should reflect for a moment on ourselves before we judge Diane. Any one of us are just "one step away from having our MINDS SNAP". Let's hope Diane receives the mental care she truly needs.

We don't need to give Diane Eldrup any excuse what she did is despicable .If she couldnot take take of the animal she was in charge off she could have contacted several rescue organization to come and take the animals .I do hope that they give her the maximun penalty . Infortunately it won't bring back those animals

Nelly

Nancy, I thought that was the Diane that I knew, too...the one who loved and cared for animals.
She adopted Lucha the chihuahua from me in March 2007. (I was Lucha's foster mom for a national rescue operation....see Claudia Lenart's other articles about Lucha on the Patch). I visited Muddy Paws and Lucha in March 2008 and the kennel and home were clean and well kept, and Lucha was obviously well-cared for.

and then 2 weeks ago they found Lucha's skeletal remains (identified by her microchip) discarded like trash outside the back door of Muddy Paws.

I started out wanting to understand what happened to Diane to cause her to kill the dogs she "rescued", but as I learned she killed her own personal pets and the pet of her own little boy, my feelings of leniency have turned to ones of wanting justice.

Look at Claudia's past stories about Lucha, look at what a beautiful loving girl Lucha was, and tell me then that Diane loved and cared for animals.

It's infuriating to see suffering..especially the suffering of the innocent but mental illness is an insideous disease. What really upsets me is that there was NO sane person in her life that might have walked into her rescue operation and noticed something awry? It's hard to believe that there is no family member or friend who noticed the deterioration of her mental state and thought to intervene?? The problem for those of us who have family members that suffer from mental illness is that our options to help them are very limited...but I'd like to encourage anyone out there who has a friend or relative that seems somehow "off" or "out of touch" not to let the "system" inhibit you from demanding help... The first step (if family is not responding or is unable to respond further) is to call the police and get the person in the system and on the record. They might not be able to do much, but if you perservere and if you ask your friends and other family members to perservere with the authorities, eventually an investigation will be launched. An observant friend or family member might have saved these animals as well as helped this terribly sick person. There is no excuse for what she did. There is no recalling the suffering of the sweet innocent animals who died. There is only learning now. We must all be more observant and do what we can to help those who can't help themselves... both animals and human.

You're right, Susan.

I live in southwest Minnesota, an 8 hour drive from Chicago. I am usually in Chicago every March for the Chicagoland Pet Expo, volunteering at a rescue booth. I wish that in 2009 I had taken the time to go out to Muddy Paws and visit Diane again, but we kept in close touch by email (she always sent pictures, too) and I believed everything was fine.

The last time I heard from Diane was via email in July 2009 and then we lost touch. It was on New Year's Day 2011 that I sat down at the computer to catch up with old friends and found the Muddy Paws story.

No one has been as shocked or heartbroken as I.

No one has been as shocked or heartbroken as I....and no one has had as many regrets and "what ifs" as I....if only I had visited in March 2009 when I was in Chicago anyway; if only I had known, if only Diane had contacted me for help; if only someone, anyone, had intervened.

How could her little boy have gone to school and smelled like death and feces and Child & Family Services not been contacted by a teacher?
How could all of the people/agencies who reported something wrong there not have followed through?

I swear, if I had had even the slightest hint that something was wrong, I would have driven to Chicago and done everything I could for Diane and her precious little boy. I have a picture of him and Lucha napping together on the couch....it makes me cry to see it.

The only one to blame is Diane. Murder is not a sane act and never will be. Yes, she needed help. If she is not made to pay for her actions, what door will be opened to others who follow? Not knowing Diane or her busines the facility looked closed for quite some time. There never seemed to be activity. It was assumed the facility was closed.
A friend if mine opened a business near muddy paws just under a year ago.
A few months before the story broke, my friend complained to the village. She thought she could hear dogs but felt that there was never anyone there taking care if them. It was was no surprise to her to hear what was found. What was more tragic is that the village never made her calls of concern important enough to investigate. Possibly if they had, there may have been more animals that could have been saved.

There's a hearing today, Monday, April 11.

Does the trial start on Tuesday,September 6th at the Waukegan Court House? If that is correct what time does it start? Is this the day for the juror selection only? If anyone knows please update us. Thank you kindly.

I will be checking on everything when I get home from work tonight. I will post here with links, info, etc.
Stay tuned!
I live in SW Minnesota and will be driving to Chicago on Monday so that I can attend the trial. Is a demonstration planned for outside the courthouse before and after the trial hours each day? I'll bring posters with pictures etc. if you'd like. Diane killed my former foster girl, Lucha, and I will be there in Lucha's honor and memory to see that Diane is punished.

My husband and I are devastated!!! We got our little girl there three years ago. I was only looking up the local weather when I saw muddy paws as a local story. We are sick to our stomachs. Does anyone know if there were still helpers there. When we were there she had one helper for sure, a women maybe the same age as her. Her son was the one who brought our girl out to us. So much is going through my head, I remember her words of wisdom on how some people have struggles with making a rescue dog obey because they feel sorry for them and then talking about going to their "forever home"....what in the heck happened????? We just found out about this hours ago and our anger is just growing inside.

Betsy, if you go back through Claudia Lenart's articles you'll see that she's been doing a great job of following this tragedy. My former foster girl, Lucha the chihuahua, died at Muddy Paws. Diane and her little boy adopted Lucha in March 2007, and I visited them in March 2008 when I was in Chicago to help at our rescue's booth at the Pet Expo (I live in Minnesota). The kennel was immaculate, the house was clean, and I enjoyed visiting with Diane and Tyler and seeing Lucha so happy and loved. I gradually lost contact with Diane over the next year (not uncommon with adopting families), and I assumed that all was well. Then, this year on New Year's Day I was looking up old friends and found the story about the death and horror at Muddy Paws. Lucha's skeletal remains and her microchip were found in April. She'd been thrown out the back door like trash.
I'll be in Chicago next week for the trial. I owe it to Lucha and all the others to see this through to the end.