BALTIMORE — It takes a lot to rattle Zoey Robinson-Budreski. She's been in the cremation business since she was just 18 years old.
"I have heard crying and grief. This is not the same pain. This is a heart wrenching howl I have never heard in-person, in my life," Robinson-Budreski told WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington.
As the owner of Charm City Pet Crematory, and as a Good Samaritan, she's been helping pet owners identify whether the cremated remains they were given by "Loving Care Pet Funeral Services" in Catonsville are actually their pet, or if they're even ashes at all.
Hear Zoey Robinson-Budreski speak on how she wants to help victims of the pet cremation scam
"Some of them were in literal like clumps of hard concrete - you couldn't break it. That's not how ashes are. And the packaging - some were in Ziploc baggies," she said. "It was just - none of the industry standards that we have as a proper crematory."
Let's rewind a bit.
Last month, WMAR-2 News spoke to Darrine Timpson, who paid Loving Care Pet to cremate his French bulldog, Jada.
He received what he thought were his pup's ashes, but shortly after, received a call from Baltimore City Animal Control that her body had been found dumped on the side of the road, along with 7 other dogs.
"This is what the ashes look like. I don’t work in cremation - I’m not sure - but I know it’s not my dog, because she was found on the side of the road," he said, as he showed us the ashes he had received.
WMAR-2 News interviewed the owner of Loving Care Pet that same day, Rodney Ward.
He claimed to have outsourced those particular cremations, and was refunding pet owners.
"They were given back to us like that from the person who was supposed to perform the cremation. We did not in fact put the ashes in the bag, that’s how we received them," Ward said.
He went on to say, “We stand by the service that we give to each family. We stand by the above and beyond service that we provide even with our funeral services that we’ve provided for pets. It’s just hurtful that even after all of this that we have this negative stigma on us right now.”
Well, that stigma got a lot worse a few weeks later, when police discovered a hearse on Ward's property filled with 38 deceased and decomposing animals.
Baltimore County Police are investigating Loving Care Pet for "theft by deception." The State's Attorney's Office told WMAR-2 News the business isn't even a licensed crematorium.
In the meantime, dozens of pet owners are left wondering what really happened to their loved one.
Robinson-Budreski from Charm City Pet Crematory wants to bring them some comfort the best way she knows how. She's holding a vigil on Saturday at the new pet funeral home she's opening, right down the road from her crematory. She's expecting about 150 people to attend, to honor at least 65 pets.
"I just couldn't imagine families that didn't have their pets back not having a proper memorial, a proper honor. So the vigil was just what needed to be done. There was no ifs ands or buts about it. As soon as I heard it, I'm like, we've got to come together," she told WMAR-2 News.
She's also working with activists and lawmakers to introduce a bill next legislative session to provide more oversight for pet cremation services - of which she says there really isn't any right now.
"This can't happen," Robinson-Budreski said. "Our pets are our family. You're not just OK to just throw them away and get a $24 fine for improper disposal - that is not high enough."
