Uncle Pleads Not Guilty
UPDATE 09/25/13: The uncle of a 2-year old boy mauled to death by up to five pit bulls pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a charge of child endangerment. Marco Antonio Zamudio, 23, was charged with one felony count of willful cruelty of a child resulting in the death of Samuel Zamudio. Prosecutors declined to file charges against the boy's grandmother, Eustulia Zamudio, 42, because of insufficient evidence, according to the San Bernardino County district attorney's office.
Samuel's ravaged body was found Monday evening in the backyard of his grandmother's home. The boy was rushed to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The Press-Enterprise blog reports that prosecutors did not charge Eustulia because it appeared she was at work at the time of the attack, according to district attorney’s spokesman Christopher Lee. Marco Zamudio was also charged with a parole violation for a 2009 Orange County robbery.
09/24/13: Updates and Clarifications
The Los Angeles Times reports that the grandmother and uncle of 2-year old Samuel Zamudio could eventually be charged with murder. On Tuesday, both were arrested on suspicion of child endangerment resulting in death after Samuel was mauled to death by up to five pit bull-mix dogs in the backyard of his grandmother's home. His uncle, Marco Zamudio, was responsible for taking care of Samuel at the time. His grandmother owns the home and the attacking pit bulls.1
The woman who spoke anonymously in earlier news reports is Erica Vega, who was the future godmother of Samuel and also lives at his grandmother's home. Relatives and neighbors continue to speculate that the boy crawled out of his window or the dogs snatched him from his window. Colton police officials have not verified either scenario. Vega said that family members searched for the boy for about 20 to 30 minutes before finding him severely injured in the backyard.
San Bernardino city animal control officers seized five adult pit bull-mix dogs on Monday and three puppies. According to Vega, there were at least 10 dogs at the home. KTLA.com reported that all five suspected culprits were euthanized on Tuesday and are slated to undergo a necropsy, according to Colton police Detective Raymond Mendez. Eusulia Zamudio2 and Marco Zamudio3 are being held on $100,000 bail. Their arraignment hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
09/24/13: Relatives Arrested in Boy's Death
Colton, CA – Police reported Monday night that a 2-year old boy was killed by up to five pit bull-mixes in Colton. The attack occurred about 5:30 pm at a home in the 700 block of West Citrus Street. The boy was "suffering from extensive wounds to the upper body," according to a police statement released Monday night. He was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:07 pm, according to San Bernardino County Coroner’s officials.
A woman who rents a room from the boy’s grandmother told abc7.com, “It was ugly. His face was all eaten up. He was eaten from the face. He had no clothes.” She said the boy’s grandmother and uncle were babysitting the boy, along with his older brother and her two children. A neighbor said he believes the boy “jumped out of the window, I’m guessing to play with the dogs.” The woman said she was horrified when she saw the boy lying in the backyard after being attacked.
On Tuesday, police arrested two relatives of 2-year old Samuel Eli Zamudio. Eusulia Zamudio, 42, and Marco Zamudio, 23, the grandmother and uncle of the boy, were booked into West Valley Detention Center on suspicion of assault resulting in the death of a child younger than 8-years old. “It’s what we typically use when we have horrific child abuse cases,” Colton police Detective Ray Mendez said. The dogs are being quarantined at the San Bernardino city animal shelter.
View the DogsBite.org Google Map: California Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.2Her name has also been spelled Eustulia and Eustolia.
3An NBC Los Angeles video reports that Marco has an extensive criminal past.
Related articles:
06/20/13: 2013 Dog Bite Fatality: Union City Boy, 6, Killed by Uncle's Pet Pit Bull
05/31/13: 2013 Dog Bite Fatality: Antelope Valley Woman Mauled to Death by Pit Bulls
04/13/13: 2013 Dog Bite Fatality: Stockton Woman Killed by a 'Big, Nasty Pit Bull'
Photo: CBS Los Angeles
Oh my God!
These cases are enough to turn your hair white! And these beasts, ripping off the clothes! That sticks in my imagination somehow…
Poor kid. I hope he perished quickly. Nobody should have to die like that. It sounds more terrible than burning.
With criminal charges pending, its good to see that some law enforcement agencies are not seeing this kind of incident as some kind of "tragic accident". As was the quote in the Gilbert,AZ case.
The moment you have pit bulls in a home (or anywhere) the "accident" factor is off the table in my opinion.
Samuel was the 225th American killed by a pit bull since the CDC stopped tracking fatality data in 1998 in their dog lobby influenced/incompetent DBRF study.
One of the best comments ever from a news article on his death:
Kerry Vinkler
There is so much misinformation running rampant on this thread that only serves to perpetuate more tragedies like this one. The denial of pitbull owners to truly understand the nature of their breed puts them and everyone around them at risk. The market is flooded with this breed of dog and they are being placed in homes on a platform of misinformation. It is imperative to know what you own without discounting the negative inherent traits of the breed. Denial is the first building block to irresponsible pet ownership. Pitbulls absolutely do not have to be trained to fight nor do they need to be mistreated to display this behavior. Even the pitbull advocacy exclaims that you can never trust a pitbull not to fight and advocate bite stick training. Not because of locking jaws but because of their bite style. I hesitate …to call a pitbull bite as just a bite because what occurs when a pitbull triggers it is a sustained attack and mauling. After the onslaught the pitbull is usually back to happy go lucky because they simply did what there genetics engrained in them. The same way a rat terrier will ferret out a rodent only to return to their owner as if nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Bottom line, know what you own and remember aggression can be managed never cured. Also, the loving nature you see displayed in these dogs is just as real as their polar opposite aggressive inherent traits and this breed of dog was created to not display typical cues prior to an attack.
Nancy Grace covered this story last night. She is an ally. It would be awesome if we could get DBO and Nancy Grace hooked up somehow, someway.
She "gets it".
Poor kid. This happens too often in this country, in every city.
If I'm not mistaken, your Facebook page has a photo of the pit bull responsible for this killing. You should put it up on the blog as well. In my view, if there is a photograph of the offending animal it should always be posted so the nutters cannot "spin" the story to claim it was some other breed.
OUTRAGED!!!
MARICOPA County Animal Control – (Gilbert AZ) Has it's very own Pit Bull propaganda page on it's website perpetuating the myth that Pit Bulls make "wonderful companions".
http://www.maricopa.gov/Pets/pitbulls.aspx
Pitbulls are the only breed to be so honored by Maricopa County. Of course they don't mention the Pit's tendency to kill should they decide to bite, nor do they mention the unpredictability of when the dog might bite. No this is a sell the breed to the public page complete with pictures of cute cuddly dogs. Along with a plea for your sympathy for the 9,000 Pits who are euthanized each year, a backhanded pitch for someone to please come down to adopt them so they don't have to die.
I am nearly speechless with anger (bet you noticed my own little lie there – I'm not quite speechless yet!).
Is it any wonder the Gilbert babysitter let her pitbulls run lose in the same area as small children? Is it any wonder that the baby's parents gave no thought to the children being exposed to the dogs? Why would our government offices spread propaganda that flies in the face of reason that puts our families at risk…and use our tax dollars and dog licensing fees to do so?
Hats off to California Governor Jerry Brown….Only in office since January 2011 and has already governed over 12 Pit Bull DBRFS!
Way to go Jerry!
BSL DOESN'T WORK FOR DOG FIGHTERS, PIT BREEDERS AND CONVICTED FELONS WHO WORK ON PIT BULL TV SHOWS
It's not just in Maricopa County. Pima County animal control also pushes pits.