CAMPBELLSBURG, KY (WAVE) – The man arrested Friday in connection with an animal hoarding case in Henry County has been found dead.
Kentucky State Police say 71-year-old Kenneth Smith was found by a relative dead in his car with an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound. The car was in Smith's driveway on Allyson Lane in Campbellsburg. This comes just three days after he bonded out of jail.
"Ken was a good guy," a friend told WAVE 3. While the man doesn't want his identity known, he does want people to know about his friend Kenneth Smith and more than just the charges that surround him. "You couldn't meet no better guy than Ken Smith."
On Friday Kenneth Smith and his wife Terri were taken into custody after more than 200 animals were removed from their home. Investigators found dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, guinea pigs, even a hybrid wolf, all living in filthy conditions.
What the Smiths were keeping inside, even this friend had no idea. "I never dreamed of it being that big," he said. "I knew they had some, because you could hear them at night, but as far as knowing they had that many, no."
He says while Kenneth did live there, he was gone working for the most of the day. "He would get up and leave at 5 in the morning as soon as he woke up and wouldn't come home till bedtime," said Smith's friend.
On Saturday, after Kenneth bonded out of jail, this friend was one of the first calls he made. "He was just saying he was stressed, stressed over everything that was going on. It wasn't his operation and I told him not to worry about it and everything would be all right."
This friend believed Terri had good intentions with the animals, he thinks the couple got in way over their heads.
"Ken didn't care for animals as much as she did," he said. "He didn't want anymore. I talked to him and said don't worry about it, you will be alright, and then you hear this. Yeah, it's a bad thing."
Terri Smith remains behind bars and faces 218 counts of cruelty to animals. She appeared in court on Monday and entered a not guilty plea. She is expected back in court next month.
Copyright 2011 WAVE News. All rights reserved.
Kenneth Smith (Source: Carroll Co. Detention Center)
Terri Smith (Source; Carroll Co. Detention Center)
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