4-month-old Ohio infant found dead with 'big dog' lying on top of her on New Year's Eve
DAYTON, OHIO: A 4-month-old infant was found dead after she might have been injured by a dog on New Year's Eve. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office identified the baby as Raelynn Larrison of Dayton, who was pronounced dead at Dayton Children’s Hospital on Thursday night, December 31, the Dayton Daily News reported. Her exact cause of death has not been revealed yet.
Emergency crews responded around 7 pm to a home in Dayton after an unidentified man called the 911 dispatcher after finding a dog on top of the baby and noticing that the infant was not breathing and was unconscious. “She’s not breathing. My baby ain’t breathing,” a man told the dispatcher. He added that “the puppy was just lying on her" and he didn’t know what happened. The man was wailing and begging for help.
The baby was rushed to the hospital where she was declared dead. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office said the hospital informed them of the baby’s death. The baby's death is under investigation by the Dayton Police Department and an official autopsy report is awaited.
Although the police have not yet confirmed the breed of dog involved in the incident, a neighbor Lonnie Dapier described it as “big” and said the animal had gotten out of the family’s house before. "It's a horrible thing if you can't control an animal. In the first place, children that young shouldn't have a vicious dog or a big dog like that around them," Dapier said. "God bless that child and I just hope they get that dog taken care of one way or the other so it won't injure anyone else," he said.
It was also unclear if there were other children present inside the house when the incident took place. A GoFundMe page arranged to raise money for Raelynn’s funeral called the death an “unexpected tragedy.” "A unexpected tragedy happen last night 12/31/2020, when we lost our beautiful four month niece. Please help in any way you possibly can so that we can lay this beautiful girl to rest," the page said. So far, a little over $4000 have been raised of the fundraiser's goal of $15,000.
Back in October, we reported that an infant was mauled to death by its parents' pet German Shepherd dog in Virginia. According to the Hampton Police Division who released a statement, the infant had been killed during the early hours of the morning at a property in the first block of Scotland Road. Officers had been called to the scene around 3.15 am after reports that a dog had mauled a baby.
The officers who responded to the scene found a "small infant that had sustained injuries consistent with a canine attack" at the property, Newsweek reports. Personnel from the Hampton Division of Fire & Rescue had pronounced the baby dead at the scene. Police revealed that the baby had been asleep next to its parents who were woken up by "a large amount of motion". It was then that the father of the baby saw the injuries on the child. He immediately shot and killed the dog which was a mixed-breed German Shepherd. The family revealed that the dog had never previously shown any sort of aggression. Animal Control later took possession of the dead dog.