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January 4, 2008

Woman accused of severing parrot's foot is found dead

WARWICK -- Pamela Worden, the woman accused of stealing a baby parrot and cutting off its foot to remove an identification band in May, was found dead on Dec. 23 at her home. She was 57.

Worden, of 911 Toll Gate Rd., was scheduled to be in Kent County District Court today for a trial calendar call. She was charged with a felony charge of possession of stolen goods and a misdemeanor count of cruelty to an animal.

Worden went to her room to lay down around 10 a.m. on Dec. 22, and never woke up. Her roommate, Robert Patton, 80, found her the next morning, fully clothed and still wearing her make-up, lying in her bed, he told the police.

The state medical examiner listed her cause of death as acute intoxication due to the combined effects of opiates and benzodiazepines (depressants). According to the police, Worden was prescribed a number of medications, an opiate -- Avinza, a pain medication that releases continuous doses of morphine -- and the depressants Flurazapam and Alprazolam. It did not appear that Worden overused the drugs, the police said.

The number listed to Worden’s Warwick home is disconnected.

David A. Holden, director of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, heard about Worden’s death yesterday when he went to observe the court proceedings.

“We were prepared to assist in any way in the trial,” Holden said. “I’m sorry that the defendant died and for her family. We were still willing to go forward in any way we could.”

The attorney general’s office got the news last week, said spokeswoman Beryl Kenyon. The charges against Worden will be dismissed once a death certificate is issued.

“This has been an unusual case all along,” Kenyon said. “But usually we have some sort of resolution.”

In May, the police said Worden walked into the Petco store on Bald Hill Road and asked about buying a parrot. She held the bird and told employees about a similar bird she bought at another store. Worden reportedly continued shopping, according to the police, and the clerk noticed the bird was missing minutes later. Employees traced the purchase Worden made at the other store and gave her contact information to the police.

Officers found two birds when they entered Worden’s apartment this summer. One was missing a foot a bleeding; the amputated limb, the bird’s identification band and a pair of scissors sat on the counter nearby.

The bird was taken to an avian specialist in East Greenwich has since been adopted to a good home, said Scott W. Brady, manager at Petco. After the bird’s surgery, it came back to the store for observation. More than 1,000 people expressed interest in adopting the bird, Brady said. The bird was placed in a home three weeks after the operation.

“We just did a few interviews to see who had birds before and took the best person from that,” Brady said. “It worked out well.”

-- Journal staff writer Talia Buford

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 6:25 PM | Permalink

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joe | January 5, 2008 6:41 AM link

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