Posted on February 23, 2015 by Colleen Lynn

2015 Dog Bite Fatality: Visiting Child Killed by Family Pit Bull in Pittsburgh Suburb

Pit Bull Kills Toddler archived
West Mifflin, PA - On Sunday evening, 2-year old TayLynn DeVaughn was viciously attacked and killed by a family pit bull-mix while visiting her aunt's home on Fleetwood Drive in West Mifflin, a Pittsburgh suburb. The pit bull belongs to her aunt's boyfriend. The child's father, Cory DeVaughn, told WPXI, "I came out of the kitchen and the dog dropped the baby. His name was Jake and my baby was gone." The toddler was rushed to Jefferson Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead.

The distraught father also said that it was the second time his daughter had been around the pit bull-mix. DogsBite.org adds, the second time and last time. DeVaughn said he doesn’t blame the owners and that everyone is hurting right now. "She has a lot of people that love her a lot. People all over love my baby," DeVaughn said. Allegheny County police said the county district attorney’s office would review the case for possible charges once the police investigation is complete.

"You gotta be careful whose house you take your child to, so it won't happened to your child what happened to mine." - Cory DeVaughn

The West Mifflin animal control officer who impounded the dog, Ken Ferree, has now handled at least two fatal dog attacks. Ferree also impounded Nikko, a recently adopted husky that killed a baby in McKeesport in 2012. Nikko was seized after the violent attack then quickly adopted out to a new family -- prior to even undergoing the standard 10-day rabies quarantine. Thus setting up the ethereal court battle over a baby-killing dog whose life was ultimately spared by a judge.1

Ferree told the TribLive on Monday that the dog is a 3- or 4-year-old pit bull mix and weighs about 80 pounds. "It's a good-size, powerful dog," he said. "It fought me a bit ... when we had to remove it." Though using a catch-pole to handle the dog, the animal attacked him again at the kennel. "He wasn't a cooperative dog," he said. Ferree said he would keep the dog in his McKeesport kennel for the standard 10-day quarantine period. Let's hope for everyone's sake that is true this time.

View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Pennsylvania Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.

1Onion's life was ultimately spared as well after a 2-year court battle. Both cases involved New York-based Lexus Project intervening to spare the lives of child-killing dogs.

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Colleen Lynn

2015 Dog Bite Fatality: 63-Year Old Arkansas Man Killed by Three Pit Bulls

UPDATE 07/18/15: In a July 17 email correspondence with Johnson County Sheriff Larry Jones, the sheriff confirmed that the attacking dogs were pit bulls. Three pit bulls were involved in the fatal dog mauling of Frederick Crutchfield, 63-years old of Hartman. In the email exchange, Sheriff Jones also answered our other questions. The dogs were not chained, the deadly attack occurred on the dog owner's property and Crutchfield knew the pit bulls well, according to Sheriff Jones.

02/20/15: Autopsy Results
Coal Hill, AR - On February 4, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office and Coal Hill police responded to a location to assist in a death investigation. Investigators found a 63-year old man dead in the woods near his home. His body was sent to the Arkansas State Medical Examiner's Office to determine cause of death. On February 20, newly revealed autopsy results showed that Frederick Crutchfield, 63 of Hartman, died from "canine injuries" inflicted by a family member's dogs.

The Arkansas Crime Lab determined the cause of death was exsanguination due to multiple canine injuries, according to a statement released by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. The dogs involved in the deadly attack belonged to a family member, according to officials, and have since been impounded. The breed(s) of dogs and total number of dogs have not been released. Crutchfield served in the Army National Guard for 30-years and was an Iraq war veteran.

View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Arkansas Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Colleen Lynn

2014 U.S. Dog Bite Fatality Statistics - DogsBite.org

Fatal Dog Attack Statistics
DogsBite.org recorded 42 fatal dog attacks in 2014, the highest on record in the last 10-years of statistical data we have collected. Citations of each victims' case history are located on the 2014 Fatality Citations page. The last year the CDC collected "breed" information about fatal human dog attacks was 1998. Since this time, pit bulls alone have killed 262 U.S. citizens. The only other known nonprofit in addition to DogsBite.org that tracks this vital data publicly is Animals 24-7.

42 U.S. dog bite-related fatalities occurred in 2014. Despite being regulated in Military Housing areas and over 700 U.S. cities, pit bulls contributed to 64% (27) of these deaths. Pit bulls make up about 6% of the total U.S. dog population.1
Together, pit bulls (27) and rottweilers (4), the second most lethal dog breed, accounted for 74% of the total recorded deaths in 2014. This same combination also accounted for 74% of all fatal attacks during the 10-year period of 2005 to 2014.
The breakdown between these two breeds is substantial over this 10-year period. From 2005 to 2014, pit bulls killed 203 Americans, about one citizen every 18 days, versus rottweilers, which killed 38, about one citizen every 96 days.
See full report: 2014 U.S. Dog Bite Fatality Statistics - DogsBite.org
News release: Nonprofit Releases 2014 Dog Bite Fatality Statistics

Discussion Notes

Each year, certain aspects of annual dog bite fatality statistics stand out in comparison to adjacent or recent years, but do not necessarily indicate a new trend. The two striking aspects of 2014 is the total number of fatalities -- 42 is the highest on record since we began collecting data -- along with the surge of off-property attacks. In 2014, 40% (17) of all fatal dog attacks where inflicted by loose dogs off their owner's property. This is also the highest on record since we began tracking.

DogsBite.org underscored the accelerated rate of dog bite fatalities in 2014 in an April report and again in an August report. On average last year, a fatal dog attack occurred in the U.S. every 8.7 days. The majority of these deaths, 60%, occurred in the Southern United States, primarily Texas, Florida, North Carolina and several other Gulf Coast states. Texas and Florida dominated with 7 and 5 deaths respectively. National, regional and local media were mainly absent on this issue.

The overwhelming majority of breed-types that killed in 2014 are longtime killing culprits. Pit bulls, rottweilers and mastiff-type guard dogs and war dogs comprised 83% (35) of all deaths. Removing these breeds from the equation leaves 7 dog bite fatalities in 2014, an annual death rate similar to the mid-1970s before these breed-types gained in popularity. Of the 7 deaths, 5 were off-property attacks involving multiple dogs in semi-rural areas and 2 were family dog attacks.

Rise In Off-Property Attacks

In 2014, an alarming 40% (17) of all fatal attacks were inflicted by loose dogs off their owner's property. This is a sharp rise; the 10-year rate (2005 to 2014) of fatal off-property attacks is 24%.2 In 2014, 88% (15) of these attacks involved dog owners that were direct or close neighbors to the victim or nearby property owners unfamiliar to the victim. Of this subset, 6 occurred in large and midsized cities including, Houston, San Antonio, Modesto, Dayton, Paterson and Killeen.

Of the total number of off-property attacks, at least 35% (6) occurred in semi-rural jurisdictions with minimal animal control resources or no leash laws and struggling Indian reservations, which in addition to these two shortfalls also have longstanding roaming dog problems. These areas include: Tallapoosa County (AL), Riverside (AL), Benton County (MS), Grant Parish (LA), Pine Ridge Reservation, Shannon County (SD) and Wind River Reservation, Fremont County (WY).

Rise In "Unknown" Breeds

2014 also marked a rise in "unknown" breeds involved in fatal dog attacks. In the 10-year period of 2005 to 2014, there were 326 total recorded dog bite fatalities. Only 2.5% (8) of these deaths involved unknown breeds, 3 of which occurred in 2014, 1 in 2012, 1 in 2010 and 3 in 2009. Attacks by unknown breeds on or near Indian reservations account for 50% (4) of all occurrences. In 2014, there were 2 fatal dog attacks on Indian reservations involving multiple unknown dog breeds.

The other fatal attack in 2014 involving unknown dog breeds occurred in Grant Parish, Louisiana and involved up to 15 dogs, 14 of which belonged to the same owner, the victim's next-door neighbor. The dogs were quickly seized, DNA samples taken and an out-of-state lab performed an analysis. The lab results came back in early January and all 15 dogs were euthanized. The Grant Parish Sheriff's Office refused to release any specific dog breed information to the local media.

High Profile Criminal Trials

Though 2014 seemed dominated by fatal dog mauling trials, only 21% of the 42 fatal attacks resulted in criminal charges -- 21.5% is the 10-year national average. What did occur in 2014 were two high-profile second-degree murder cases against dog owners. The conviction of a California man, Alex Jackson, whose loose pit bulls brutally killed a woman in 2013 and the preliminary examination of a Michigan married couple whose cane corsos fatally attacked a jogger in July.

Progress on a national average level may be stalled, but not in certain states. 2014 marked the first time that Michigan prosecutors brought second-degree murder charges in a fatal dog mauling case. In Texas, 2014 marked the first year, to our knowledge, that two of its largest counties -- Harris County (Houston) and Bexar County (San Antonio) -- filed charges under the state felony dog attack law after a fatal mauling. The state law carries a penalty of up to 20-years in prison.

"We had evidence the dog had killed another dog and had been involved in two other attacks against people. Frankly, we're going to make an example of these two owners." - Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson

Trends that Must Be Stopped

In 2014, after police gunned down an attacking 130-pound family pit bull that brutally killed a little girl in Louisiana, readers were introduced to the "designer" XL and XXL pit bull breeding trend. Within a few hours of the attack being reported, DogsBite.org was able to locate the dog owner's extensive Instagram page and document these disturbing images for readers. This appalling designer trend of breeding quite literally monster-sized dangerous pit bulls must be stopped.

We also shined a light on a growing industry of "family" protection dogs with a "switch" after a protection trained rottweiler named Ozzy killed a boy at his home. The boy's stepfather operated a business at the home, "Platinum K9 Protection - Social Protection Dogs with a Switch" and had formerly worked for Vohne Liche Kennels. The alleged "switch" failed and the boy lost his life. We hope to see this trend dry up fast; attack bred and trained dogs do not make reliable family pets.

Finally, another trend revealed in 2014 that must be stopped is fearful media. News groups too afraid to "name the breed" after a fatal pit bull mauling due to backlash from pit bull owners who often flood their inboxes with nasty messages and cause a scene on their corporate Facebook page. Also, news groups that are fearful and incompetent emerged in 2014 when KIII-TV failed to name pit bulls as the attacking breed and instead hedged it under the "large breed" scenario.

Photographs of the 19 children and one young teenager fatally attacked by dogs in 2014.

Data Collection Method: How We Collect U.S. Dog Bite Fatality Data

1Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to December 31, 2014, by Merritt Clifton, Animals 24-7, December 31, 2014.
2If one excludes 2014, the 9-year rate (2005 to 2013) of fatal off-property attacks is even lower at 21.5%.

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Colleen Lynn

2015 Dog Bite Fatality: 7-Year Old Boy Killed by Two Family Dogs in College Springs, Iowa

Malaki Mildward, 7-years old, was killed by two dogs in College Springs, Iowa.

Previous Bite, Mother of Litter archived
UPDATE 01/30/14: On Tuesday, the Omaha World-Herald published new information about this fatal dog mauling. A 10-year old boy living at the home of Jeremiah Hicks had been bitten by at least one of the four dogs at the home on September 12. Four months later, two young dogs in Hicks' home will fatally attack 7-year old Malaki Mildward. There were three children living at his College Springs home each with different mothers; two shared the same biological father, Hicks.

For clarification, these children were Malaki, 7-years old whose mother is Amber Braymen and biological father is Xavier Mildward. Braymen is Hicks' current relationship and brought the male pit bull, Shipper, into Hicks' home. The mother of a teenager living at the home left a female pit bull, Road, at Hicks' home last February. Road is the mother of the litter that produced two fatally attacking dogs. The third child is the 10-year old boy that was bitten by Road in mid September.

The 10-year old boy's mother, Talana Auten, told the World-Herald that her son had bite marks and bruises on his left leg on his knee and thigh areas. Auten's husband reported the bites to Afton Police Chief John Coulter. The chief then referred the couple to the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS). Auten said she then filed a report with DHS and took photos of her son's injuries. Unfortunately, these cell phone images were lost when her phone stopped working.

Auten said that a Page County DHS representative subsequently told her that the bite report had been classified as unfounded. Thus, there was no follow through by any government agency afterward. On Monday, Sheriff Lyle Palmer told the World-Herald he was still conducting interviews about Malaki's mauling death and was previously unaware of the September biting incident. The investigation into the biting incident is still ongoing and there could be future developments.

Auten said her son was one of several family members that discovered Malaki in the yard after the deadly attack. Others close to the case added more details. The boy and several family members had been returning from the library when they saw Malaki's body lying in the yard. The two pit bull-mixes had destroyed the boy and stripped away nearly all of his clothes in the attack. Auten told the World-Herald that her son has been extremely traumatized by what he witnessed.

"At this point in time, he doesn’t want to close his eyes. He doesn’t want to think,” she said. “To hear him talk about what had happened in great detail, just made me physically sick to my stomach.” - Talana Auten

The Household Dogs

At the time of the biting incident and deadly attack four months later, there were four dogs in the Hicks household, two adult pit bulls, Shipper and Road, a male and female respectively, and two younger dogs, Two Face and Satan. Both younger dogs were 8 or 9 month old pit bull-mixes from Braymen's August puppy post. People close to the case say that Road and her two fatally attacking offspring were put down after Malaki's death. Shipper still remains in Hicks' home.

The Hicks household had inherited the two adult pit bulls through different maternal relationships. As noted earlier, Shipper came with Hicks' current relationship with Braymen. Road was inherited through the teenager's mother, Jo Anna Wentworth Parrott. The dog was named Road because it was found on the side of the road and taken in by Parrott. Last February, Parrott left Road and a python snake at the Hicks home with a note, apparently unable to care for them any longer.

So what happened to the alleged "Pitbull English bulldog pups" that Braymen advertised for sale in August that produced at least eight puppies, two of which killed Malaki? It turns out that Parrott had two dogs, Road and a male English bulldog. Road may have been pregnant when it was left at Hicks' home in February, or there was a planned breeding between the two or there was never an English bulldog involved in the mating. The mating was simply between Shipper and Road.

Finally, Auten and her son had nothing to do with the four pit bulls in Hicks' home. Hicks also has custody of the boy. It was Auten and her husband that alerted authorities to the September biting incident. For reasons that are still unclear, the bite report was classified as unfounded and no follow up proceeded. Now, after being bitten by Road and witnessing the traumatizing sight of Malaki dead in Hicks' yard, Auten's son must return to this same home where Shipper remains.1

01/24/15: Relationships Begin to Clarify archived
Despite a dizzying array of family relationships -- some of which have now been clarified by the Omaha World-Herald and help from the British media (kudos to the Daily Mail!) -- we have learned much more information about the most recent U.S. fatal dog attack. On Thursday, 7-year old Malaki Mildward was viciously attacked and killed by two young family dogs at his home in College Springs, Iowa. The types of dogs involved should no longer be in dispute after this update.

The first place we looked after this fatal dog mauling was Page County property records to uncover the owner of the home where the attack occurred at 709 Glen Avenue. The owner is Jeremiah J. Hicks. Next the array of different relationships emerged on Facebook that had many of us scratching our heads. The World-Herald clarified that, "Malaki lived with his older sister, his mother, Amber Braymen, Jeremiah Hicks and Hicks’ son at Hicks’ home in College Springs."

The mother's name had been the missing link, without it, she could not be located on Facebook. Once learned, the Daily Mail scoured her page and found an August 5, 2014 post announcing that she had, "Pitbull English bulldog pups" for sale. Within the comments of this post, Braymen also posted a photograph of the dogs. "Wanna buy one?" Braymen asked. The age of the two attacking dogs, allegedly 6-months old, are more likely 8 or 9 months old and came from this very litter.

There is no indication on Braymen's Facebook page that English bulldogs were roaming around the Glen Avenue home or an indication of this on the father's page, Xavier Mildward. Both pages, however, did have photos of Malaki with a pit bull named Shipper posted in 2012 (See Braymen's and Mildward's separate photographs).2 Notably, Xavier was also selling pit bulls in 2011. His "starting" price was $400, according to his Facebook post. They were a pit bull oriented family.

In 2014, at least the mother had a breeding as well. That litter of at least eight puppies was born in late May or early June. Braymen's August 5 post shows the puppies at about 8 to 10 weeks old and ready to sell. It is a grave distortion that this litter of dogs are not pit bull-mixes. Not even Braymen lies about it: "Have Pitbull English bulldog pups got shots and ready to go message me for details and pics," Braymen states. The lies about the breed of dog start after the boy's death.

Who propagated the lies to Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer that the dogs were not pit bulls or even pit bull-mixes? That is open to speculation, but we could not ignore one Sue Hicks Mullins either (unknown if she is related to Jeremiah Hicks). A female friend tagged Mullins on the August puppy post Saturday, asking, "Sandy Hicks Mullins here is an ad for the puppies that the mother of the boy who passed away from the pups advertised. Even says they are pit bull mix pups?"

Then we had to view Mullins' page, where things take a nose dive. On Saturday Mullins posted to her Facebook page, "Prayers to the family of Malaki Mildward my grandson was a friend of his in preschool, He died yesterday after being attacked by two family owned 6 month old NON pit bull pups. EVERYBODY, PLEASE give the family time to grieve and remember it doesn't matter the breed or the animal, ANYTHING with teeth can bite." (Kudos to the friend that called her out!)

Mullins was not finished, however, and next posted an even more disturbing post. "This is bitter sweet in Iowa right now but true, just remember as I used to say when asked at the zoo does it bite? Anything with a mouth can bite, be careful especially around strange animals, even the family pet can have a bad day. Thinking about you "M," she writes. Mullins also links to a video about why "dogs make the perfect babysitters," in the post. We will not link to this unsafe video.

In Summary

The evidence is convincing that Malaki was killed by two dogs from the August puppy post. It was a pit bull, English bulldog pairing by the mother's own words and sales routine. The caveat is that both DogsBite.org and Animals 24-7 have few cases on record of 6-month old dogs, pit bulls or otherwise, maiming or killing unless acting as accomplices in a pack of attacking adults.3 9-months old is more believable, but is still unusual. Malaki was also 7-years old, not an infant or a toddler.

01/22/15: Family Dogs Kill Boy
College Springs, IA - The Page County Sheriff Office's reports that a 7-year old boy was killed by his two family dogs. Deputies were called out to 709 Glen Avenue in College Springs at 4:53 pm. On arrival, deputies found Malaki Mildward unresponsive and EMS from Clarinda and College Springs were administering CPR. The boy had been mauled by his family's two 6-month old dogs. He was transported to Clarinda Regional Health Center where he was pronounced dead.

In the last 10-years, January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2014, three fatal dog attacks have occurred in the state of Iowa. In 2013, Jordyn Arndt, 4-years old of Prairie City (Jasper County) was viciously attacked by her babysitter's pit bull. In 2011, Vanessa Husmann, 3-years old of Hopkinton (Delaware County) was savagely killed by her grandfather's two champion rottweilers. In 2010, Shirley Lou Bird, 79-years old of Ida Grove (Ida County) was killed by her pet German shepherd.

1This may be the most complex update, family relationship and household dog-wise, we have ever done in the history of DogsBite.org. We did receive multiple confirmations on the dogs from people close to the case.
2The boy's real father is Xavier Mildward. The two may have still been together at that time.
3Young dogs have attacked and even killed infants in the past, such as the case of 2-month old Zane Earles in 2008 when the family's 8-week old lab-mix killed the baby. But infants are a unique and separate category. DogsBite.org was able to locate one recent fatality, the death of John Harvard in 2014, involving a 5-year old boy and 8-month old pit bull as this post was being prepared. Animals 24-7 was able to locate two pit bull puppy mauling cases in their files on short notice as well. The case of Martina Jennings involving a 4-year old boy and 3-month old pit bull in 2008 (Ohio) and the case of Annette Rojas involving an 8-year old girl and 8-month old pit bull in 2005 (California).

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Discussion Notes