A 28-year-old woman was charged Monday with tying two young horses to a tree on wooded, vacant property in northern Minnesota and abandoning them. More than two weeks later, they were found starved to death.

One of the animals had broken free but collapsed and died a few feet from its bondage, according to the charges filed in Hubbard County against Minden A. Crenshaw, of Park Rapids, Minn. Crenshaw was jailed on three felony counts until posting bond Monday afternoon.

The Sheriff's Office said Crenshaw acknowledged tying her horses to a tree on a neighbor's property after her mother refused to keep the animals at home.

Crenshaw moved out of the house on April 1, and the dead horses were found 18 days later on Saturday, the charges continued. Authorities further determined that the horses had gone without shelter for a few months before being tied to the tree.

According to the criminal complaint:

A man out for a walk came upon the horse carcasses in the woods and contacted the Sheriff's Office. One was tied to a tree, while the other "appeared to have broken its rope from the tree and was laying there a few feet" from the tethered horse.

There was no sign of food or water nearby. A veterinarian ruled that both horses starved to death.

Crenshaw's mother told a sheriff's deputy that her daughter was living with her in recent months, until she moved out on April 1.

Crenshaw told Sheriff Cory Aukes that she left the horses tied to the tree because her mother wouldn't let her keep them.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482