Baby Deer Left For Dead In Nantucket Summer Home

A baby fawn was found dead and decomposing in a pool of blood inside the upstairs garage apartment of a Nantucket summer home last month, and the gruesome discovery is now under investigation by the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

The baby fawn was discovered by a caretaker for a Madaket Road property on June 17, according to a police report obtained by the Current.

One of the homeowners suggested to police that there is a “possibility” that someone staying at the residence got drunk, thought the baby deer was in distress and “attempted to nurse it back to health” inside the apartment, but then forget they brought it inside and left it to die.

Officer Nicholas Terino was dispatched to the residence on June 17 after the police department received a call from one of the homeowners “regarding a deceased deer that her caretaker found in her garage.” The homeowners’ identities were redacted from the police report.

One of the homeowners told officer Terino that after the caretaker’s discovery, she went to the residence to check on it, and when the other homeowner entered the garage he immediately detected the smell of something that was dead. They went on to say they found the deceased deer on the floor upstairs and that it was so decomposed, there was fluid from within the carcass seeping through the floor, which now needs to be replaced.

Terino asked one of the homeowners who she believed could have been responsible for the dead deer. She claimed she did not know, stating that her housecleaners last cleaned the apartment Memorial Day Weekend and that they would have informed her if they found a deer in the apartment. She said to her knowledge, the cleaners were the last people in the apartment.

The other homeowner was also contacted by Terino and asked to explain the scene that he found. He stated that when he made his way upstairs and saw the decomposed deer, he observed it to be a baby fawn that had been inundated with flies and maggots, with a pool of blood underneath it. He said the deer was too decomposed to observe any wounds that would have shown whether the deer was killed or died of natural causes. He suggested the deer “could have walked through an open door and gone upstairs and died of starvation.”

However, according to the report, the homeowner had also told police that all the doors of the garage apartment were closed but unlocked when he arrived and discovered the deer inside

There was a pile of towels near the deer, he said, which led him to believe someone “might have carried the baby deer upstairs thinking it was harmed and attempted to nurse it back to health.”

One person who spoke to police whose name is redacted from the report said that there was no other sign of blood or anything that would have indicated the deer was wounded as it went up the stairs.

When the male homeowner was asked by police who he felt was responsible for the situation, he had a different story. He said an individual had been staying at the residence since Memorial Day Weekend and that there is the possibility that someone who was staying with him might have “gotten too intoxicated, saw the baby deer thinking it was in distress, and attempted to nurse it back to health.” He added that whoever it was “could have possibly forgot that they brought a deer into the apartment the night prior and left island.”

The report states the deer carcass was disposed of by the homeowners.

Massachusetts Environmental Police Sergeant David Wright was contacted by Nantucket Police and informed of every conversation that took place involving the parties involved. All findings have been relayed to him, and Wright informed Terino that he would call everyone involved and investigate the matter.

Wright declined to speak with the Current about the case unless an interview was approved by the Massachusetts. Environmental Police (MEP). The Current requested the police report from the MEP on June 27 and the agency subsequently denied the public records request last Friday, July 8, claiming the documents “weren’t public records.” The Current has appealed that decision.

The MEP told the Current that no charges have been filed yet, but the investigation remains ongoing.

The homeowners were told to contact the police department and Sgt. Wright should any additional suspicious matters come to light.

The Current reached out to one of the involved parties requesting comment. He consulted with his family and replied via text “we’re not interested.”