“NEVER WANTED THIS TO HAPPEN”: Victims react to Stephen Kinder’s suicide

CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) — Cleveland Police have confirmed that the owner of Kinder Dog Training shot and killed himself Thursday afternoon.

Stephen Kinder was facing at least five charges of animal cruelty after multiple customers came forward claiming their dogs were mistreated.

“I never expected this to happen” Abigail Eastburn said. “I never wanted this to happen. The whole point of this was to get justice for my dog.”

Dog trainer Stephen Kinder parked his car in Cleveland’s American Legion parking lot and shot himself Thursday. His suicide comes amid accusations of animal abuse after numerous dog owners claim Kinder abused their pets.

After news broke of animal cruelty charges brought on Kinder by Atlanta’s Abigail Eastburn on Sunday, more victims flooded police phone lines — all with stories of how malnourished their dogs were, how they were covered with urine and sores.

“I know that there was a lot going on because he told me that himself when I spoke to him, that he was receiving a lot of death threats and that he was going through a lot of shaming on social media,” Cleveland Police Spokesperson Evie West said. “So I don’t know what was going through his mind. I don’t know if it was just this specific incident, I don’t know if it was what was being said, or if it was a collective something that just made him think that this was not worth it.”

Eastburn says she doesn’t regret going to the police or talking to the media.

“I don’t feel guilty for sharing my story. We helped a lot of people,” Eastburn said.

“Her goal wasn’t all of this that has transpired, so she had no control over that. Her motive was to bring justice and peace to all these people whose dogs and whatever have been abused and tortured,” Philip Radford said.

Eastburn wishes things had ended differently.

“I wish that we could’ve gone through the legal system and gotten justice for Duncan and this is definitely not that, and I am sincerely sorry to his family,” Eastburn said.

Attorney Jeremy Jones says his suit against Kinder for a Walker County couple with a similar experience will continue despite the sad circumstances. Kinder’s wife was named in the suit filing.