{"slug": "looking-for-bodies-fbi-other-agencies-descend-on-mirandas-rescue-to-dig-for", "title": "‘Looking for bodies’: FBI, other agencies descend on Miranda’s Rescue to dig for further evidence", "summary": "Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and USDA, executed a second search warrant at Miranda's Rescue in Humboldt County on Tuesday, excavating the property for additional buried animals as part of an investigation into mass animal killings, fraud, and conspiracy. Investigators used heavy equipment and ground-penetrating sonar to locate potential mass graves, following whistleblower reports of earlier discoveries of dog remains.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...Multiple law‑enforcement agencies descended on [Miranda’s Rescue](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/22/search-warrant-alleges-mirandas-rescue-took-in-600-dogs-generated-510k-in-past-year-2/) early Tuesday morning to begin excavating parts of the property, marking the most aggressive phase yet in a widening investigation into alleged mass animal killings, [fraud and conspiracy](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/18/back-in-the-bay-area-canines-once-sent-to-mirandas-rescue-seek-new-homes/) tied to the longtime Humboldt County [animal rescue operation](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/27/rescue-dogs-killed-mirandas-shelter-bay-area/).\n\nThe Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office confirmed it is executing a second search warrant at the 1600 block of Sandy Prairie Road, authorizing investigators to dig for what they believe are additional buried animals. The operation includes personnel from the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office, California Attorney General’s Office, California Department of Justice, USDA, FBI and federal prosecutors.\n\n**RELATED: Dogs sent to Miranda’s Rescue return to Bay Area shelters as investigation continues**\n\n“The warrant authorizes the excavation of the property in an effort to locate additional deceased animals believed to be buried on site,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release after the warrant was served Tuesday morning.\n\nHeavy equipment, ground‑penetrating sonar and a forensic team from Cal Poly Humboldt were brought in as investigators focused on areas previously identified by whistleblowers who say they documented mass graves on the property earlier this spring. By Tuesday afternoon, community members say investigators were wrapping discoveries in blue tarps, and the scent of decomposition was in the pungent air.\n\n#### Mass graves expected\n\nJennifer Raymond, one of the two women who first uncovered a pit containing eight dogs in April, said she rushed to the scene after receiving a call that law enforcement had arrived with excavation equipment.\n\n“It has been almost two months since the raid … the hardest wait in the world to sit and feel like nothing’s happening,” said Raymond. “I don’t understand it from the point of view of the safety of the animals.”\n\nRaymond said she and others have repeatedly urged the county to prohibit owner Shannon Miranda from continuing to accept animals during the investigation. Raymond was planning on attending the Humboldt County supervisors’ meeting Tuesday when she received a call from Jenna Moore telling her about the search warrant.\n\n“I headed straight over here, and we came out here, and what we see is this … it’s called ground-penetrating sonar, looking for bodies, and I see skid steer clearing off vegetation and a backhoe digging,” said Raymond. “My big frustration is that these are tiny little pieces of equipment. There is a local company that has offered major equipment that could dig up this whole field in a day for no cost.”\n\nDuring the investigation into alleged animal abuse and fraud allegations, Miranda’s Rescue has been allowed to remain open and reportedly continues to take animals from other shelters.\n\n“I don’t understand it from the point of view of the safety of the animals, and I don’t understand it from the point of view of the county, who, when he is shut down, will be responsible to find places for all these animals,” Raymond said. “Wouldn’t it be in their best interest to say you can’t take in any more animals, you can adopt out when people come to adopt, but to get the population down, because we do not have a shelter that could accommodate all the dogs he has there.”\n\n#### Prior digs guide search\n\nJenna Moore, who maintains multiple motion‑activated cameras along the property line, said she learned of the operation after friends spotted a law‑enforcement briefing in a nearby parking lot. She then alerted other advocates and the media.\n\n“It started by getting a phone call from a couple friends that were passing by Tractor Supply and the Riverwalk in Fortuna, saying that they think that something was going down because they saw a briefing happening in the parking lot of the Riverwalk Lodge,” said Moore. “Then they sent me videos and pictures of multiple sheriff vehicles, undercover vehicles, animal control trucks, there were two trucks there. The two equipment that they have there, were on separate trucks and trailers, and then they convoyed out, and so I had them follow, and sure as heck, they ended up going straight over to Miranda’s Rescue.”\n\nMoore said investigators are digging directly into the same pit where she and Raymond previously recovered eight dogs and where they were forced to leave at least one more behind.\n\n“There’s multiple cameras out there. I don’t see where they’re at. I don’t post publicly anything from it,” said Moore. “I’m only giving the sheriff’s department the information I get off of it, because the last time … my digging partner, the last time she talked to the news media and gave them a picture from my cameras, the next day Shannon’s children went out and blocked the view.”\n\nShe said investigators should expect to find multiple layers of animals, describing a pattern in which dogs were dumped, lightly covered with soil, and then buried again days later with new remains.\n\n“The first dog they will get to is going to be a brown dog, large breed, wrapped in a blue sheet…we couldn’t recover at least one, we know for sure from that same batch of dead dogs that he had dumped that day,” said Moore. “They’re going to have three or four layers of dogs.”\n\nMoore said she hopes investigators scan recovered remains for microchips, particularly dogs transferred from Solano County, which prohibits euthanasia of its transferred animals under the contract it had with Shannon Miranda and Miranda’s Rescue.\n\n“If they can find a dog… that has a microchip tracking back to Solano County, that criminalizes him instantly,” said Moore.\n\n#### Hundreds of unaccounted-for animals\n\nAccording to the sheriff’s office, hundreds of dogs were transferred to Miranda’s Rescue by shelters and private owners statewide. A “significant number” have not been accounted for, the sheriff’s office release Tuesday noted.\n\n“Investigators have interviewed dozens of animal shelters… and have received hundreds of tips,” the agency said.\n\nThe investigation began April 22 after allegations of felony animal abuse, cruelty, fraud and conspiracy surfaced. A first search warrant was served May 1, when evidence was seized.\n\n#### Community rescues can take animals\n\nRaymond said multiple rescues, including Karuna Rescue, which she described as “a little piece of heaven,” have offered to take Miranda’s large animals immediately. She said the county has not yet coordinated with them.\n\n“Wouldn’t it be in their best interest to say you can’t take in any more animals… to get the population down?” Raymond asked.\n\n#### Sheriff’s office expands perimeter\n\nShortly before noon, deputies expanded the restricted area, telling observers the easement they were standing on is part of the private property of Shannon Miranda. Media and concerned citizens were standing on a dirt access road that runs behind the fenced yard, where several crews are excavating the field.\n\n“This area is closed off now… we’re asking you guys to vacate this section,” said Detective Julian Aguilera of the sheriff’s office’s major crimes division.\n\nInvestigators are expected to remain on scene as long as they continue recovering evidence.\n\nA press briefing was scheduled for 2 p.m.\n\nThe Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office asks anyone with information relating to the investigation to contact the office at 707-445‑7251.\n\n*Maranda Vargas can be reached at 707-441-0504.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looking-for-bodies-fbi-other-agencies-descend-on-mirandas-rescue-to-dig-for", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/23/looking-for-bodies-hcso-fbi-other-agencies-descend-on-mirandas-rescue-to-dig-for-evidence/", "published_at": "2026-06-23 23:42:30+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-24 00:01:14.455248+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Miranda's Rescue", "FBI", "USDA", "Humboldt County Sheriff's Office", "California Attorney General's Office", "Cal Poly Humboldt", "Shannon Miranda", "Jennifer Raymond"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looking-for-bodies-fbi-other-agencies-descend-on-mirandas-rescue-to-dig-for", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looking-for-bodies-fbi-other-agencies-descend-on-mirandas-rescue-to-dig-for.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looking-for-bodies-fbi-other-agencies-descend-on-mirandas-rescue-to-dig-for.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looking-for-bodies-fbi-other-agencies-descend-on-mirandas-rescue-to-dig-for.jsonld"}}