Staunton woman charged with animal abuse

Birds chirped Monday afternoon from inside the home at 330 Drury St. in Staunton. The stench of feces hung 15 feet from the walls of the house.

Behind those walls, authorities said, a mystery of abuse and neglect unraveled.

When a Staunton police officer and a Child Protective Services worker entered the Sears Hill home, they knew Phyllis Louise Jannisch, 40, lived there with her young child.

They didn’t know the two shared the space in squalor with more than 100 animals, according to court documents.

“When the CPS worker checked the refrigerator-freezer…there were 19 dead birds in the freezer door panel,“ the officer wrote in warrant. “There were piles of feces lying on the floor in the bathroom. The cat litter box located in a bathroom was overloaded with urine and feces.“

As authorities made their way through the home last week they found more than 100 live birds, seven cats and a dog, according to the warrant. They continued their search across stained carpet and feathers.

The house proved unfit for life, and authorities marked it condemned. Authorities charged Jannisch with animal nuisance and animal neglect.

Almost five years ago, Jannisch started an aviary business inside the home with her husband, William Edward, neighbor Mona Lamb said. A jury last month convicted William Jannisch of sexually abusing a minor. He is awaiting sentencing.

Checks with the Commissioner of Revenues Office and the Zoning Department showed no business license for the aviary on Drury Street.

From across the street, Lamb said, she complained to police several times.

“They pretty much kept to themselves because most of the neighbors didn’t want anything to do with them,“ she said. “Ever since they moved here, there’s been some kind of problem with police.“

Lamb said she alerted authorities recently after she caught Phyllis Jannisch dumping dirty cat litter into the street in front of the house.

Child Protective Services officials did not return calls.