( CNN ) -- Heat . There 's been plenty of it to go around in Arizona these first days of summer -- literally and politically -- after the air conditioning went out at a dog kennel . Sheriff 's deputies found 20 dead dogs piled up in a shed on Friday at Green Acres Dog Boarding Facility in Gilbert . The public shock over their deaths led a U.S. senator to issue a public statement on Monday . As fate would have it , Republican Sen. Jeff Flake 's son , Austin , was minding the kennel , when the dogs died . Green Acres is owned and operated by two of Flake 's relatives , Jesse and Maleisa Hughes , the Maricopa County Sheriff 's office said . The couple was out of town , leaving Austin Flake to dogsit , when a dog apparently chewed through the electric wiring connected to the air conditioning , said Sheriff Joe Arpaio . He called it an accident , but at the same time cast doubt on the kennel owners ' account of how the dogs died . Kennel owners : It was an accident . `` It was a tragic accident , '' Hughes told CNN . `` We are heartbroken , and we 're devastated . '' She does n't believe anyone could have predicted or stopped what happened . The air conditioning unit kicked out in the middle of the night , Hughes said . Austin Flake and his wife slept at the east end of the house , while the temperature climbed to seething heights in the kennel on the west end , Maleisa Hughes said . The dogs sleep there at night in a large , cooled room , she said . The two sides of the house have separate air conditioning units , so the Flakes could n't feel the suffocating heat . During the day in Gilbert , the mercury has blasted up to over 100 degrees F , easily making it hard to find relief , perhaps even after temperatures dip back down to under 80 at night . By the time the Flakes discovered the dogs at 5:30 a.m. , the temperature was over 100 degrees , Hughes said . The gnawed wire was still sputtering off sparks . `` It could have burned down our whole house , '' Hughes said . `` My whole house could have burned down and all my children could have died , and then it would have been a tragedy . '' One of the dogs that perished was her own . The Flakes turned a hose and ice on the overheated dogs to try to save them , the sheriff 's office said . `` But failed to call for emergency assistance before the dogs died . '' Sheriff : Story `` seems unreasonable '' Sheriff Arpaio said that his office is investigating and that parts of Hughes ' story seems suspicious . `` It seems unreasonable that dogs could be healthy at 11 p.m. at night and dead by 5:30 a.m. the next morning as the owners suggest , '' he said . A veterinarian he conferred with has corroborated his doubts , Arpaio said . Deputies arrived to find some of the dogs ' owners at Green Acres . A couple cried and hugged , as deputies used a wheel barrow to cart off dogs ' carcasses wrapped in cloth . Pet owners told Arpaio that the Hughes misled them about the number of dogs kept at the kennel . The Hughes have not been arrested or charged , CNN affiliate KPNX reported . Prodigal embarrassments . News of the pet deaths on his son 's watch were followed by a statement from Sen. Flake . `` I ca n't imagine the devastating loss these families are experiencing . My heart goes out to the owners who lost their beloved pets , '' he said . This is the second summer in a row that a member of Flake 's family was involved in a controversy . In June of last year , another son , Tanner Flake , reportedly published racial epithets , homophobic slurs and anti-Semitic remarks on Twitter and used them as user names in online games . Texas inmates sue over lack of air conditioning . CNN 's Shane Deitert contributed to this report .
Sheriff 's deputies found the dead dogs piled up in a shed at a kennel . A senator 's son and his wife were watching the animals when they died . The kennel owners were out of town ; they say it was an accident . The sheriff casts doubt on their story , so does a veterinarian .