Indiana mom whose baby was mauled to death by fighting pet dogs arrested for keeping aggressive pitbull
LAFAYETTE, INDIANA: Prosecutors have charged Jennifer Nicole Connell with three counts of neglect of a dependent after her pitbull terrier killed her 26-day-old son, Julian.
38-year-old Connell was arrested on June 30 from her residence in the 1900 block of Greenbush Street. According to Journal & Courier, it is the same house where her dog killed the infant six months earlier. According to a probable cause affidavit, Connell had two dogs living in her home at the time of the incident and the pit bull terrier mix was behaving aggressively toward the other dog, as well as toward Connell, her teenage son, and her infant.
The affidavit states that Connell told authorities she was trying to find the pitbull terrier a new home after the animal had become aggressive toward the baby in a recent incident. Connell's infant son was left on her bed to sleep on the morning of January 25, when the aggressive dog entered the room and first attacked the smaller dog. The teen was able to remove the smaller dog from the room with multiple injuries, but he couldn't believe his eyes when he returned to the bedroom. He saw the pitbull terrier standing over the infant with a bloody mouth and chest.
Responding officers had no choice but to shoot the aggressive dog in order to get to the baby. Unfortunately, little Julian later succumbed to his injuries. According to the probable cause affidavit, detectives found the residence littered with animal feces and dead mice in "various states of decay."
Prosecutors charged Connell with neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury for keeping the aggressive hound in the same house as her infant. They also charged her with two counts of neglect of a dependent for keeping her children in what was described as an unsanitary and unsafe house.
As per online records, Connell was remanded in custody at the Tippecanoe County Jail as of July 1.
Earlier this month, a mother and her dog-owner friend were thrown behind bars after an American bulldog cross mauled a nine-year-old to death at a caravan park. In April 2019, young Frankie MacRitchie was brutalized by a massive hound called Winston in Looe, Cornwall, after his mother left him alone in a caravan with the beast to go drinking.
The 45-kg dog, which had bitten another child previously, pounced on Frankie and viciously attacked the youngster, who sustained 54 injuries and massive blood loss. 31-year-old Tawney Williams, who returned to discover her son's massacred body and the dog covered in his blood, was sentenced to two years at Truro Crown Court after admitting child neglect.
Meanwhile, 29-year-old Sarah Totterdell, the dog's owner, was sentenced to three years in prison after she admitted to being the person in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control and caused injury resulting in death. "You placed the dog and the nine-year-old child in the confined environment of a caravan and returned to the party in the caravan nearby," the judge said while sentencing Williams. "The scene you found I know will haunt you for the rest of your life and you have developed PTSD as a result of what you saw and experienced." Williams and Totterdell were reportedly boozing in a separate caravan, the court heard, as they left the boy alone with the animal.