(Beth Clifton collage)
Three pit bulls impounded from home where seven-month-old died
COLUMBUS, Ohio––The fourth fatal pit bull attack on a baby in less than four weeks on April 9, 2025 raised the U.S. dog attack death toll for the year to 22.
The pit bull mauling death of seven-month-old Eliza Renee Lynn Turner in Columbus, Ohio came two days after Marion County, Ohio prosecutor Ray Grogan announced on April 7, 2024 that the Marion County Grand Jury had brought first degree felony charges of involuntary manslaughter, child endangering, and reckless homicide against Blake Bates, 29, and Alyssa Smith, 35, parents of six-month old Royal Wayne-Jackson Bates, killed by their pit bull Kilo on April 28, 2024.
(Beth Clifton collage based on Facebook photos)
Kilo, Kane, & Kash
Pit bulls named Kilo, Kane, and Kash were impounded on April 9, 2025 from the home of Kameron Turner, 25, and MacKenzie Copley Turner, 23, after the death of their daughter Eliza Renee Lynn Turner.
Kameron and MacKenzie Turner had apparently also had a pit bull named Kloe Kenzie Kenzie as of 2019, whom they called their “baby” in a Facebook photo caption before the 2020 birth of their first child, Elijah Douglas Max Copley.
Eliza Renee Lynn Turner was their second child.
Baby Elizah Renee Lynn Turner.
(Facebook photo)
Took fatally injured baby to firehouse
“Columbus police and Franklin County Animal Control responded to the incident just before noon,” reported Bailey Gallion for the Columbus Dispatch.
“Columbus fire Battalion Chief Jeffery Geitter said a woman knocked on the door of fire station #22,” several blocks north, “with the severely injured baby girl.
“The girl was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital and was pronounced dead at 11:43 a.m., a police dispatcher said.
“Police are not sure which dog was involved in the attack,” Gallion concluded.
Parents of baby Elizah Renee Lynn Turner, Kameron Turner & Mackenzie Copley. (Facebook photo)
Bought house next to daycare center
Kameron and MacKenzie Turner had only just bought the house where the attack occurred on April 3, 2025, according to property records.
The house, at the corner of South Champion Avenue and Allison Drive, backs up to Tina’s Home Childcare on the Allison Drive side, a daycare facility in business since 2000.
Charges were not immediately brought against Kameron and MacKenzie Turner, but may be investigated, since both keeping three pit bulls in a home with two small children and bringing three pit bulls into proximity to a day care center could be considered reckless behavior.
Left to right: Blake Bates, baby Royal Wayne-Jackson Bates, & Alyssa Smith.
The other Kilo had previously attacked a child
Marion County prosecutor Ray Grogan told media that a year before Blake Bates and Alyssa Smith’s pit bull Kilo killed Royal Wayne-Jackson Bates, Kilo attacked a neighbor’s child.
“When you have a dog in any instance that demonstrates aggressive behavior towards a human being, you have to take steps to either put that dog down or ensure that the dog isn’t going to have access to do real harm to somebody, particularly a child,” Grogan stated.
“When you don’t do that, there are consequences,” Grogan added.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Six other pit bulls in home
While Blake Bates and Alyssa Smith’s pit bull Kilo was euthanized after the death of their son, the couple are believed to have kept from three to six other pit bulls in their home during the next year.
Bond for Alyssa Smith was set at $50,000; bond for Blake Bates was set twice as high, at $100,000, reportedly because Bates was already incarcerated for unrelated felonies including “strangulation,” a third degree felony, during a domestic violence episode.
Bates was further charged with “escape” on February 26, 2025, also a third degree felony, for trying to evade the domestic violence charge.
Alyssa Smith, Blake Bates & family.
(GoFundMe photo)
Baby left with eight-year-old
Marion County assistant prosecutor Mark R. Weaver on April 7, 2025 told Law & Crime that Royal Wayne-Jackson Bates had been left in the care of his eight-year-old sister in the family’s living room while Blake Bates was outside and Alyssa Smith was in the bathroom, possibly showering.
Royal Wayne-Jackson Bates rolled from a sofa to the floor. Kilo killed him before the daughter could call her parents.
The circumstances somewhat resemble those of the March 14, 2025 pit bull mauling death of six-month-old Ember Rene Southard in Alabaster, Alabama.
(See Three generations of pit bull advocacy culminate in death of a baby.)
(Beth Clifton collage)
Facing 11 to 16 ½ years in prison
“Weaver will prosecute these two defendants,” the Marion County prosecutor’s office said in a prepared statement. “The case will be heard by Common Pleas Court Judge Todd Anderson. Each of the defendants faces up to 11 to 16 ½ years in prison if convicted on all counts.
“Anyone who lives in the Miami Street area and has information about previous aggressive behavior of the family’s pit bull Kilo should contact Marion Police Lieutenant Dylan Reese,” the statement added.
(See also Mother & son get 14 & 19.5 years for pit bull death of Jo Ann Echelbarger and Two more dog attack dead, but USA Today gets hep to the pit bull jive.)
Danielle Henderson.
(Bexar County Sheriff’s Office photo)
San Antonio pit bull & German shepherd owner gets six years
In San Antonio, Texas, meanwhile, Danielle Henderson, 34, was on April 10, 2025 sentenced to serve six years in prison and make restitution to Max de Los Santos, 78, who lost both of his legs after Henderson’s pit bull and German shepherd mauled him on August 15, 2023.
Reported Jordan Elder for News 4 television in San Antonio, “Henderson said she did not recall getting a letter from the city regarding her dogs being aggressive, but admitted that they got out three times on the day of the attack. The third time was when they escaped near the front of the house and attacked De Los Santos.
“Henderson’s attorneys asked the judge to consider her four children as he made his decision, saying the public safety issue has been resolved because the dogs have been euthanized and Henderson has moved.”
Shannon Sims was then director of San Antonio Animal Care Services.
(Beth Clifton collage)
San Antonio Animal Care Services did not respond to previous call
The court was not having any of it.
Reported Mariza Mendoza, also of News 4 television in San Antonio, two months after the attack, “We’ve been investigating the case since and found the two dogs were reported to the San Antonio 311 number the day before the attack. A family friend says the attack could have been prevented if Animal Care Services or ACS responded to the call.
“Through an open records report, we discovered a 311 call was made on August 14, 2023 by a neighbor, one day before De Los Santos was attacked on his property by his neighbor’s two dogs,” Mendoza continued.
Max & Beatrice De Los Santos.
Played the tape
And then Mendoza played the tape of the call:
“Thank you for calling the city of San Antonio 311. This is Hannah speaking. How can I help you?
“Hi, I need animal control to come urgently to my home. I have my back door neighbors’ dogs in my back yard. One of them is a pit bull and the other is a German shepherd, and I have small kids. They chewed through the privacy fence and are in my back yard.”
Resumed Mendoza, “Through our research of the dogs’ owner, we discovered San Antonio Police & Animal Care Services have dealt with Danielle Henderson in various capacities since 2021,” including for both animal complaints and traffic violations.
Ramon & Juanita “Janie” Najera.
(Facebook photo)
“It’s just a ticking time bomb”
Commented De Los Santos family friend Kelly Reid Walls, to Mendoza, “It does not appear that there has been any justice for this family at all.
“It’s just a ticking time bomb before there is another fatality in the city,” Walls predicted.
Ramon Najera, 81, was fatally mauled in San Antonio on February 24, 2023, in an attack by two pit bulls who likewise escaped from their yard, after multiple prior complaints by neighbors.
The owners of the pit bulls who killed Ramon Najera, Abilene Schnieder and Christian Moreno, both age 32, were on September 20, 2024 sentenced to serve 15 and 18 years in prison, respectively, after pleading guilty to dangerous dog attack resulting in human death.
Beth & Merritt Clifton with friends.
“Schnieder recently lost an appeal for that sentence,” reported Jordan Elder.
(See “Latin Kings” gang sign in court as killer pit bull owners are sentenced.)
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The post Pit bulls kill four babies in four weeks; parents indicted for 2024 baby death appeared first on Animals 24-7.