Mother of 15 allegedly made her children watch as she BOILED their puppies alive

A 53-year-old mother of 15 is accused of subjecting her children to a campaign of abuse in which she forced them to watch as she boiled their puppies alive.

Martha Crouch from New Mexico also beat one of her daughters – who was pregnant at the time – until the 14-year-old girl had a miscarriage.

The woman was arrested on Monday after some of her older children alerted authorities to her callous behavior, and she is now charged with child abuse and cruelty to animals. Timothy Crouch, 57, is charged with obstruction.

One of her teenage daughters said her older siblings had taken her to live with them in Arizona to protect her from her mother.

The children also allege that the mother deliberately fed poison to a kitten, and kept one daughter in a 'fat chain' for three years to make her lose weight.

The San Juan County sheriff’s office began an investigation following the arrest of one the couple’s adult children on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

It was not immediately clear if all the allegations made by the children had been verified by authorities.

One teen said after one of their dogs had puppies, the mother “took the puppies and put them into a giant pot and boiled them, making all the kids watch.”

She also said she was hit by her mother with a plastic cooking spatula for questioning why she wasn’t allowed to go to school.

The children told detectives the family had lived in a number of places over the years and every time authorities questioned the parents’ activities, they fled to a new place, according to court documents.

Authorities also reported finding the body of a dog buried in the backyard that was shot as a punishment to the children.