Upon arriving at the scene, officers found that seven children, six girls and one boy, were living in filthy conditions and were surrounded by several animals.
The felon was in the middle of serving a life sentence for the Christmas Day slaying of 1-year-old Maleah Williams in 2015.
The dog owner was found hiding with the dog in a 'cubby hole' upstairs, the sheriff's office said.
Loran Cole, now 57, would later go on to murder 18-year-old Florida State University student John Edwards, and rape his sister, 21-year-old Pam Edwards, during a brother-sister camping trip in Ocala National Forest, in 1994.
