Osseo Woman Charged With Mistreatment of Animals After the Death of Two Dogs

Wednesday, October 21st, 2026 -- 11:01 AM

(WEAU Staff, WEAU) An Osseo woman was charged with two counts of mistreatment of animals while in the Village of Lake Hallie, according to WEAU staff.

According to a criminal complaint, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, officers were dispatched to the Village of Lake Hallie for an animal abuse/neglect report. The complainant, Devin Organ, reported his aunt, 34-year-old Jamie Watson, was working at a daycare and left her dogs inside her vehicle with the windows down.

Organ reported receiving a picture of one of the dogs with its eyes closed and mouth open and believed the dog was dead. When officers arrived to the house Watson was babysitting at, Watson confirmed that the two dogs inside the car were dead.

She explained that she had the dogs outside running around and put the dogs in the car while she attended to the other dogs. Watson came back about 20 minutes later and saw that both dogs were dead.

Watson said one of the dogs belonged to her and one belonged to her friend, Stephanie Thalacker, who was also helping babysit. Thalacker then came out of the house and spoke with them.

Watson said the vehicle was off, but all four windows were cracked. She also said the dogs were playing hard before going into the vehicle and believed the dogs might have had some other medical issue. Thalacker confirmed the story.

The officer didn’t see any signs of injury or wounds on the dog. The officer also said the vehicle was hot and the temperature outside was around 80-85 degrees. There was an empty water bowl in the back passenger seat and there were also open and closed beer cans and cigarettes inside the vehicle.

Thalacker said she had been having seizures the past couple of days, multiple times a day. She said she was sleeping on the couch recovering from an earlier seizure when Watson woke her up and said her dog was not breathing.

Thalacker went outside and saw her dog was not breathing. An initial appearance is scheduled for November 17.

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