Embattled ex-SPCA manager dies

ATTICA, N.Y. (WIVB) - Investigators in Wyoming County want to know what killed the woman at the center of an SPCA controversy.

Sources tell News 4 that Village of Attica Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding Susan Davila's death. The former director of the Wyoming County SPCA was facing multiple animal cruelty charges in connection with overcrowded conditions at the shelter.

In February, State Police raided the shelter and found more than 500 cats inside--some were even found inside the walls on the shelter. Several of the animals were suffering from diseases and effects of the overcrowded conditions.

Even though she blew the whistle on the shelter, former SPCA volunteer Chris Wiehe has always said Susan Davila was a good person, with good intentions who simply got in over her head, and became a scapegoat...

"I would have never thought that this would've happened," Wiehe said. "It's very disheartening. It's very sad. She always loved the cats. She had a good heart. It's just that she got overburdened. And unfortunately, when everything was said and done, she was taking the fall for other people that should have been -- that were to blame for the mess that that shelter was into."

Wiehe hopes the people still in charge of the Wyoming County SPCA learn from this.

"The animals that we knew and loved and cared for at the Eastern Hills Mall, and the hordes of cats at that shelter, are now safe and well," she said. "And I think Sue is, too."

Susan Davila was not the only one charged with animal cruelty -- State Police also arrested former Wyoming County SPCA Board President Janet Foisset.

We've reached out to the Wyoming County District Attorney's Office to find out where the case goes from here.