In December of 2021, the Hardeman County Sheriff's Department received multiple calls from dog owner, Mandy Faulk, asking them to retrieve the body of her dog named Murphy who had been boarded and later died at Hatchie Bottom Kennels.

What the deputies found when they arrived at the kennel would result in kennel owner, Amanda Klapp, being arrested and charged with 23 counts of animal cruelty.

Deputies discovered the dogs were being kept in unsanitary conditions with one dog found dead in its kennel, and Murphy had been buried on the property.

Faulk sent two year old Murphy to Klapp for obedience training on November 1, 2021. Klapp offered to meet Faulk, who lives in Portland, halfway in order to pick up Murphy. "That didn't seem strange to me at the time. I just thought she was being kind," said Faulk, "Murphy really seemed to like her and was happy to get into her car. There were no warning signs."

Klapp sent her pictures of Murphy and let Faulk know that he would be sleeping by her bed. However, it wasn't long before things did start to seem strange.

"Towards the end, she said Murphy had bitten her and sent me a picture of a bruise, which looking back now didn't really look like a dog bite. But she suggested he stayed longer to get more training," said Faulk. "She then started giving me reports of escalated behavior where he was getting more aggressive rather than getting better."

Murphy had never been aggressive in the past, and Faulk knew something was off and Klapp kept requesting more time with Murphy.

On December 5, 2021, Faulk was in Memphis for a work trip and she decided it was time to bring Murphy home. "I texted her that I was in Memphis and I was going to pick up Murphy on my way home. She didn't respond," said Faulk. "So the next day I get a call from her. She's crying, saying that Murphy had been hit by a logging truck.

"At this point, I wasn't very sympathetic. I asked her to send me a picture of Murphy and she refused. I asked her to take him to a vet to get a professional report and she said she had already left.," Faulk said, "Her story kept changing. So I pushed to come to her house to pick up Murphy's body and she said her boyfriend had misunderstood her and buried him. I ended up calling the Hardeman County Sheriff's Department numerous times throughout the day."

Once the Sheriff's Department finally made it on scene, Faulk was able to pick up her beloved dog's body. She later took him to a vet where the autopsy showed bruising and cachexia, or wasting syndrome. Murphy's organs had shut down due to starvation.

The other animals found on the property were taken to the local animal shelter where the dogs' owners were contacted. One pet died while in care of the facility.

"Looking back, I was so naive. I just wanted to trust the good in people," said Faulk. After retrieving Murphy, Faulk knew that there had to be something she could do.

Faulk has now dedicated herself to what she calls "Murphy's Mission," where she has stood by her commitment to fight for justice against Klapp and tried to raise as much awareness as possible. Her big goal is to raise awareness and hopefully help aid in strengthening Tennessee laws and punishments for similar cases.

She has since taken to Facebook and asked for other pet owners who had used Hatchie Bottom Kennels to reach out to her and screenshot their conversations with Klapp to be used as potential evidence against her.

Since using her social media to reach out to other victims, 51 people who used Hatchie Bottom Kennels have contacted Faulk. "Not all of them had a bad experience, but some did come home with minor injuries," said Faulk.

One of the most interesting things about this case though was how widespread Klapp's reach was. Her victims were not only isolated to West Tennessee. Faulk herself is from Portland, just east of Nashville. Even further, some of her victims are in Hohenwald.

Paula Sims, owner of Hank's Family Diner, sent her pit bull puppy, Thor, to Klapp for obedience training back in October 2020. The training was supposed to take only two weeks but Thor ended up staying until the week before Christmas.

"I decided to go with Amanda because I had been referred to her and she had great reviews. She made it sound like she lived on a big farm with a white picket fence," said Sims.

Like Faulk, Sims was always met halfway and was assured that Thor would be staying inside, next to her bed. Klapp soon began to tell Sims that Thor was not responding to his training well and needed to stay longer.

"[Klapp] kept saying that she didn't want to return him when she didn't feel confident in the results," said Sims.

As Christmastime approached, Sims grew impatient and wanted Thor to be home for the holidays. Fortunately, they were able to bring Thor home but not without noticing something was off.

"When we finally got him, he looked pretty thin," said Sims. "She told us that he was just going through that awkward pre-teen stage. Looking back on it now, we should've known better but she had an answer for everything, and we had never owned a pit before."

As a part of the original training package Sims had purchased, Thor was supposed to go back to Hatchie Bottom Kennels for one more round of training. Sims sent Thor back to Klapp in September of 2021 for an additional two week training.

Klapp's antics soon ensued at the end of the two week training period and asked for additional time. Sims allowed her to keep Thor for one more week but refused to repeat what had happened the year before.

This time Thor was not as lucky. Sims immediately knew something was wrong when she picked up Thor.

"When we picked him up, he stunk horribly. I didn't even really want to put him in the car," said Sims. "Then we went to somewhere to get something to eat and we put down a bowl of water for Thor. He acted like he hadn't had any."

Once home, they realized that Thor had scratches, his paws were rubbed raw and had become infected. Sims questioned Klapp about Thor's condition to which she responded that he had severe separation anxiety and chewed on his paws, according to Sims. They quickly took Thor to the vet where they were able to treat his infection, but there was more than just physical damage done.

"He was a different dog when we got him home," said Sims, "He would just hang his head and was timid of nearly everything. He went from being a people person kind of dog to being scared of everyone. He's been pretty anxious since then and he gets scared in small spaces."

Throughout the horrific stories of what took place at Hatchie Bottom Kennels, Faulk and Sims both mentioned that everyone's story was eerily similar. Klapp put up a front that was warm and inviting to her clients, offered to meet them halfway, sent pictures and updates of clients' pets, and then slowly became unresponsive or escalated the dogs behavior in order for them to have an extended stay.

Sims and Faulk both pointed out that they had paid a good deal of money and had even sent their dogs food. "It's just senseless," said Sims, "I know I sent enough food for probably all the dogs to eat, and I know I'm not the only one who sent food and money. So she had the means to take care of them.. It just makes it even more confusing as to how this happened."

Klapp is currently being held in Hardeman County jail on 23 counts relating to animal cruelty, according to a Hardeman County news source. Faulk said Klapp waived her preliminary hearing and the case has been bound over to the Grand Jury. The case is set to be arraigned in the Hardeman County Circuit Court on May 5, 2022, according to the District Attorney Office.

"I am happy to say that there was a meeting with the Assistant District Attorney this week with the victims identified in this criminal case. There is progress being made in the case and I believe the Assistant District Attorney is open to listen, empathetic with the victims, and will serve justice to the best of his ability," said Faulk in a recent Facebook post.

The day of Faulk's interview with the Lewis County Herald, Klapp's boyfriend Thomas Thompson was arrested on two felony charges of Accessory After the Fact and Tampering with Evidence, according to Faulk.

Murphy

"I know that there are much worse crimes happening, but these are still crimes," said Faulk. "I just want people to be aware of [cases like these]; whether it's local animal control or legislatures."