FESTUS, Mo. - Tonia Haddix is now internationally known following HBO’s four-part series on the true events surrounding Haddix and her handling of chimpanzees.

For years, she openly showed her defiance to FOX 2 during a time when the animal rights group PETA was questioning conditions at a complex in Festus.

“They're not getting the chimps,” Haddix said told us in June 2021, “They're not getting them. Now I've decided I'm keeping all of them, just for the principal of the matter, because they don't deserve the chimps."

We later learned Haddix faked the death of one of the chimps – even holding her ground when we asked her about PETA’s suspicions in July 2021.

“They're calling you a liar about Tonka?,” FOX 2’s Chris Hayes asked Haddix who responded, “I know they have been from the get-go. I found him in the cage. It was probably Saturday late night, but I found him Sunday whenever I went down there.”

“So, you stand by the assertion that Tonka is dead?,” Hayes followed up.

“Yeah,” she answered, “And I will gladly give uh PETA uh a copy – a piece of their ashes or some ashes so they can DNA test that to make sure they know it's a chimpanzee or Tonka's blood line or Tonka that's in that box.”

Tonka was later found by U.S. Marshals – locked in a cage in Haddix’s basement.

The organization PETA alleges in court documents that there are many more examples of Haddix defying the courts. Peta says it’s all in the docuseries and it asked a judge Wednesday to find Haddix in contempt over it.

PETA’s Brittany Peet told FOX 2 over Zoom, “This contempt and perjury and obstruction has now been shown to an international audience. It is imperative for PETA to get this in front a judge.”

We interviewed Haddix more than a half a dozen times during our reporting on her between 2020 and 2023. Those were the reports highlighted in the docuseries. Now since the release of that special, Haddix will no longer answer my calls.

In a court declaration, PETA lists many examples of Haddix’s alleged plot to hide Tonka, including a quote “…grotesque scheme to exhume the severely decomposed corpse of another chimpanzee and pass that corpse off as tonka’s remains.“

This will be the sixth time Haddix has faced an allegation of contempt of court. It’s so far resulted in thousands of dollars in fines, but no jail time. No court date is yet scheduled to consider the latest matter.