Authorities have found another 18 dead cats and one dead dog — some of the animals in carriers — at the Winfield Township property where six cats were abandoned several months ago.

WINFIELD TWP — A couple charged with animal cruelty after abandoning six cats and leaving them to die on their neighbor's Bear Creek Road property in November will reportedly be charged again after authorities found another 18 dead cats and one dead dog — some in carriers similar to the previous case, others in bins and garbage bags.

The animals were discovered on property owned by the female defendant's mother on the same day the couple was scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing relating to the original counts.

County humane officer Janet Lawniczak said Wednesday that she found 13 cat carriers on the rural property along with plastic bins and garbage bags containing dead animals in various stages of decomposition.

Some bins had “We love you” or had hearts drawn on them.

“It was weird,” Lawniczak said.

In November, the next-door neighbor of the property where the cats were found on Wednesday called Lawniczak to report finding dead cats in carriers on her property. At the time, the neighbor suspected a couple camping on the neighboring property of leaving the animals there.

The district attorney's office, on Lawniczak's recommendation, charged Tamara Rusz of Mars and Kevin Delehanty of Cranberry Township with six counts each of animal cruelty, although one cat survived by consuming a dead cat in its carrier. While the assistant district attorney working the November case against Rusz and Delehanty would only charge the couple with misdemeanors, Lawniczak hopes the new charges will be felonies.

The couple was scheduled to appear Wednesday for the November incident — within hours of Lawniczak finding the additional dead animals on the property of Rusz's mother — but only Delehanty went before District Judge Sue Haggerty. Rusz did not show up, and Haggerty issued a bench warrant for her arrest. Delehanty waived his case to court.

During the November investigation, authorities found the couple was camping on property owned by Rusz's mother, Marilyn King. Court papers revealed that Delehanty admitted he and Rusz deliberately left the cats on the neighbor's property to starve.

Lawniczak said Wednesday that she intended to call the district attorney's office immediately to discuss filing 18 more charges against the pair as a result of the grizzly discovery on King's property.

It was the same neighbor who again contacted authorities. Lawniczak said the woman called her to say she could see more carriers on the neighboring property.

Lawniczak knocked on the door Wednesday and informed Rusz's mother that carriers had been spotted.

“And I said, 'I'm going back to look,'” Lawniczak said. “She said she was unaware.”

Lawniczak doubts the property owner perpetrated the gruesome crime as she is elderly and walks with a cane.

Lawniczak said an empty tent containing an empty cooler and a large pillow covered in pet fur was half submerged in mud and water near the dead animals.

“It makes me feel disgusted and sad at the same time,” Lawniczak said.

The lone surviving cat from the November incident has been at the Butler County Humane Society since the incident.

Lawniczak said Delehanty agreed to surrender the cat on Wednesday, and will be charged for its rehabilitation and care at the humane society for the past seven months.

The cat will be available for adoption now that it has been surrendered.