People were conducting typical airport activities at Orlando International Airport on December 16 2024 during increased Florida holiday travel seasons.
The woman waiting to board stood motionless in front of airline personnel yet her subsequent behavior would shock them both.
Alison Agatha Lawrence 57 years old from Clermont Florida presented herself at the airline counter together with a petite dog.
At the airport a staff member explained to her she lacked important travel documents for pets per both air carrier and TSA requirements.
Received feedback about her dissatisfaction but Lawrence abandoned the area instead of returning to the gate behind her with her pet.
The woman walked to the restrooms that stood before security screening and stayed hidden there for multiple minutes.
Newport News employees watched surveillance tapes showing a woman emerging from the restrooms without her dog before waiting peacefully at her gate.
The series of activities would likely fade to completion but a restroom maintenance worker intervened after the departure of the woman.
The restroom employee observed both floor water and excessive dog food inside the disabled stall.
She recalled seeing the woman earlier “on her knees cleaning up a lot of water and a lot of dog food,” a detail she shared with her supervisor.
The worker conducted restroom waste disposal in terminal proximity when they found a disturbing discovery in the airport garbage dumpster.
The discovery within the waste receptacle triggered Orlando police responders when they found the de@d body of a white puppy.
The authorities started their investigation by obtaining surveillance tapes alongside witness testimonies that followed the apparent chronology.
The death of the dog was established through necropsy as drowning while all evidence trail back to the period just before the woman boarded her flight.
Neighbors of Lawrence, Roy and Janet Fernandes, told WFTV that they hadn’t seen her “little white dog” in some time.
“My husband said to me, ‘I don’t know why we haven’t seen the lady with the little white dog lately.’ Janet continued with the story as she disclosed the news to her husband about the dog’s death.
Lawrence’s home in Clermont served as the scene of her police arrest which occurred multiple months after her flight departure.
For several hours I stood at the window to understand what was unfolding in front of me… A short while later the police returned to the house according to Janet. According to him there was loud noise happening outside the house. The arrest incident took place at that time.
Alison Agatha Lawrence received arrest and aggravated animal cruelty charges on March 18, 2025.
The authorities allowed Lawrence to walk away from Lake County Jail after five hours with a bond amounting to $5,000, according to People.
According to Florida’s laws a person convicted of aggravated animal cruelty can face jail time of five years together with a $10,000 monetary penalty.
State Senator Tom Leek responded to the case in a statement, saying, “This is yet another horrible example of why I filed Senate Bill 502… which strengthens criminal penalties for those who do harm to innocent animals.”
He added, “It is my commitment to have this good bill pass the Florida Senate and the Florida House of Representatives and sent to Governor Ron DeSantis for his signature.”
A distressing airport procedure that occurred routinely has transformed into an event which drives the push for stricter animal cruelty regulations in Florida.
That airport worker opened the dumpster and immediately discovered the horror of the situation which will stay indelibly engraved in her memory.
Feature Image Credit: (Youtube/ABC7)