Boy, 2, mauled to death


http://www.kvue.com
By Noelle Newton / KVUE News
09:55 AM CDT on Friday, March 27, 2009
Video

Luling, Tx. --A Caldwell County toddler is mauled to death by a pit bull. It happened at his home in Luling Thursday afternoon.

Two dogs playfully run around the yard where hours earlier, a toddler lost his life.

"It's kind of crazy. I don't know what happened,” family member Jenevee Escodedo said.

Escobedo says her uncle and the boy's mom were keeping the dog at their trailer home on Hackberry Street for a friend. The dog was pregnant, and they thought, harmless.

"It was a friendly dog,” Escobedo said.

She's not sure what happened, but neighbors say it was horrific.

"My dad was outside and heard a lady screaming, yelling someone was dead, killed mauled, frantic,” neighbor Gus Mendiola said.

The two-year-old named Tyson was dead when paramedics arrived. Police say he had bite marks consistent with the pit bull's teeth.

It's a tragedy this family is struggling to understand.

"He was a cute little kid. Just like any normal kid he played, and he was always laughing and getting into stuff,” Mendiola said.

Neighbors who are familiar with the dog are going through a range of emotions.

"My baby's 18 months, close to being two years old, so it's a scary thought,” Alexis Allen said.

"It really gets me in the sense that there was a lack of responsibility. If you can't handle these dogs, you shouldn't have these dogs,” Mendiola said.

Police questioned family members that were at the house when the toddler was mauled. They have not mentioned the possibility of any charges. The dog will be held for further examination.

Luling Police, neighbors react to child's death



CBS 42 Reporter: Katherine Stolp
Email: klstolp@keyetv.com
Last Update: 3/26 11:14 pm
video

Luling, Tx, --Luling 2-year-old killed in suspected dog attack

The toddler died behind this Luling trailer. The 2-year-old was covered with dog bites.

Luling Police received a 911 call Thursday afternoon about a pit bull biting a child.

When they arrived at 963 North Hackberry Street, they found the two year old boy dead.

Authorities tell CBS 42 Reporter Katherine Stolp the child had bite marks covering his body. The two year old was already dead, when police found him lying in the back yard behind a mobile home. Also, in the back, police found a female pit bull chained to the ground.

As investigators tried to figure out exactly how the boy died Thursday afternoon, stunned neighbors told CBS they saw the fatal attack with their own eyes.

“It was pretty bad, the dog, the pit bull mauled the baby and kept going for its head until he killed him,” said neighbor Carol Green.

Police said the chained pit bull attacked the boy in a wooded area, where two other dogs still remained Thursday night.

“There were some adults present (during the attack), but who and their relationship with the kid, I have no idea,” Luling Police Chief, John Cochran said.

“The dogs, they’ve never given anyone a problem, I don’t know what happened,” family friend Jenevee Escovedo said. “It’s crazy.”

Friends of the family walked in and out of the mobile home hours after the attack, only a few, would stop to briefly talk with us.

“It was somebody else’s dog,” an unidentified man told the swarm of media.

“The dog was pregnant so they thought it would be fine,” Escovedo said.

The friends also told us about the deceased two year old boy, who they called Tyson.

“He was a real good kid, real quiet and playful,” the unidentified family friend said.

Police took family members and other adults present during the attack in for questioning, but have not yet pressed any charges.

“I’m still stunned and shocked because a little two year old, you would think, where were the parents, you know,” Green asked? “It’s just sad.”

The pit bull is at the Luling pound. Police say they will release more information in this ongoing fatal investigation on Friday.

An autopsy is planned for later this week to determine the exact cause of the child’s death.

Luling 2-year-old killed in suspected dog attack

CBS 42 Reporter: Katherine Stolp
Email: klstolp@keyetv.com
Last Update: 3/26 5:27 pm

Luling, Tx, --A Central Texas toddler died Thursday in what appears to be dog attack.

Luling police went to a home at 963 N. Hackberry St. just after noon when they received a call about a dog bite.

Officers found the body of a 2-year-old boy in the backyard. A female pit bull was also there.

"It's always a shock when you lose someone of that nature, someone that young," said Luling Police Chief John Cochran.

Investigators say the child had bite marks consistent with being bitten by a dog. A city animal control officer impounded the dog for examination to determine if it was involved in the child’s death.

Luling police say officers are interviewing family members.

"This is a first for us," said Chief Cochran."

An autopsy is planned to determine the exact cause of death.

Autopsy confirms dog bite killed Luling boy

mysanantonio.com
By Zeke MacCormack
Web Posted: 03/30/2009 6:18 CDT

Luling, Tx, --The pit bull blamed for the death of an 18-month-old Luling boy last week had no history of aggressiveness, according to authorities, who plan to refer the case to the Caldwell County district attorney.

Deputy Luling Police Chief David Creed on Monday identified the victim as Tyson Miller, who had stayed with his mother, Melissa Miller, for about two weeks at a friend's home in at 964 N. Hackberry St. in Luling, where the tragedy occurred.

Creed said the tot apparently awoke before others at the home Thursday at went into the back yard where the female pit bull was chained.

The boy's body was found “with severe injuries to the head and neck” when the adults awoke and searched for him about 12:30 p.m., he said.

The dog's owner, Amanda Ayala, doesn't live at the Hackberry Street home but was allowed to keep it there by the homeowner while she attended Blinn College, Creed said.

He said Ayala gave permission for the dog to be destroyed, which police said was expected to occur Monday evening.

Creed said an autopsy identified the cause of death as being indicative of a dog bite.

 

Mother of toddler mauled to death
by dog is indicted

www.statesman.com
By Mark Lisheron
mlisheron@statesman.com
Friday, May 15, 2009

Luling, Tx, --A Caldwell County grand jury on Wednesday indicted the mother of a 28-month-old boy who was mauled to death by a dog in his backyard in Luling where he had wandered unsupervised, according to police.

Melissa Miller, 24, faces charges of injury to a child and criminally negligent homicide, both felonies, in the March 26 death of Tyson Miller, according to a Caldwell County news release.

The grand jury returned the indictment after hearing testimony from Miller and her attorney, Matt Jones of Austin, the release said.

Bail had not been set Thursday, and Miller had not been arrested, Jones said by phone Thursday. Jones said Miller is prepared to turn herself in to the Caldwell County Jail.

"There appears to be no disaster so horrible that the district attorney cannot make it worse," Jones said. "This young, caring mother should be able to properly begin the grieving process, and it is unfortunate that the district attorney would not recognize that sometimes horrible accidents happen without there necessarily having been a crime committed."

In her initial report to Luling police, Miller said that her son had left the mobile home on North Hackberry Avenue, where the family had been living for about two weeks. According to Jones, the boy was in his bed when Miller saw her 6-year-old daughter off to school and then went back to sleep.

After waking up after noon, Miller and other adults began a search for the boy, according to the release. One of the adults found Tyson's body in the backyard about 12:30 p.m.

The body, with severe head and neck bites, was found in an area where the dog, a pit bull, was chained. An autopsy determined that the boy bled to death from his wounds.

The dog, which Jones said was pregnant, has been destroyed.

 

Mother Indicted for Homicide after
Pit Bull Kills son

www.dogbitevictim.wordpress.com
By Kenneth Phillips
May 16, 2009 at 2:17 pm

Luling, Tx, --Melissa Miller, 24, of Caldwell County, Texas, has been indicted for negligently inflicted homicide (also known in some states as manslaughter) and felonious injury to a child. The charges stem from the death of her son, Tyson Miller, who was 28 months old. The boy was left unsupervised for several hours, during which time he approached a chained pit bull belonging to a third party. The dog killed him. (See the article.)

I feel that these charges raise serious and difficult questions about responsibly for dog attacks. Let’s assume, for the purpose of argument, that this mother knew that a pit bull was chained or tethered outside the mobile home where she was staying. Let us also assume that she had no reason to think that her son was adequately confined. The issue is whether she had the requisite degree of knowledge that the chained or tethered pit bull presented a significant danger to her son. If the prosecutor cannot prove some knowledge of this danger, it is doubtful that Ms. Miller could be convicted of these crimes.

The State of Texas allows dog owners to chain or tether their dogs for an indefinite period of time, because doing so is not forbidden or even frowned upon. Behaviorists and knowledgeable dog owners have known for at least a decade, however, that chaining or tethering makes dogs vicious toward people. (See Why Dogs Bite People on www.dogbitelaw.com.) So Texas itself has made at least one mistake here: by allowing the practice to continue, the State has failed to educate people like Ms. Miller that a chained or tethered pit bull presents a significant danger.

If that is the case, how will the State (represented by this prosecutor) show that this mother knew something that the State itself either refuses to accept or has kept more or less secret — namely that chained or tethered pit bulls are extremely, extremely dangerous? How can the requisite degree of knowledge be proved when the State itself seems to be ignorant about the extreme danger of chaining or tethering this or any other type of dog?