Cruella de Vil from school, though it is mentioned that they were not friends and that she frightened the young Mrs. Dearly. She was a menacing student with black and white plaits, and was expelled for drinking ink. However, she appears to be on friendlier terms with Mrs. Dearly when they encounter each other at the beginning of the novel, before Cruella steals Dearly's puppies. In all her incarnations, Cruella kidnaps 97 or 99 Dalmatian puppies for their fur. In the live-action version, it is revealed that the reason Cruella chooses to skin puppies is that when short-haired dogs grow older, their fur
Cruella de Vil later, two thieves named Jasper and Horace successfully steal the puppies when the Radcliffes are out. While Cruella is questioned about the theft, the police are unable to find anything against her, and Anita does not want to charge her, despite Roger's doubts. However, as the days go by, the police still suspect her, so she goes into hiding at her old mansion, Hell Hall at Suffolk, where Jasper and Horace and the puppies reside, proving that she was the mastermind behind the theft. She demands that the henchmen kill and skin the puppies for her that very night before