9-year-old boy mauled to death by 3 dogs in California

Deputies in Yuba County say a 9-year-old boy was mauled to death by his sister’s dogs.

The boy’s 24-year-old sister was in charge of watching him, but left him alone with her three pit bulls, reports CBS Sacramento.

Griffin-Heady had unsupervised overnight visits with the child, and told the station her brother did not have any problems previously with the pit bulls.

Neighbors say Alexandria Griffin-Heady recently moved into a small trailer in Linda, California.

In one picture, she’s cuddling with her three pit bulls, and in another she’s hugging her brother.

In photos, she and her brother appear happy, but what looked happy on the outside was complicated.

“With the circumstances – of Ally not being mature enough – not able to handle a nine-year-old”. Griffin-Heady said she never thought that would happen.

The boy’s uncle, Donald Thorpe, told KOVR-TV that Tyler had been in and out of foster homes after his mother had died from a drug overdose.

Tyler’s aunt, Laura Badeker, places some of the blame on Child Protective Services, insisting that she had warned them that Griffin-Heady was not capable of caring for the child.

Read said officers were still investigating and that Griffin-Heady could face criminal charges of child endangerment.

“I know his level of supervision when he was with me, the directive was for constant supervision and given that, leaving Tyler alone at all, wasn’t the right thing to do”.

The boy received life threatening injuries, and was taken to Rideout Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The trailer home where a 9-year-old boy was killed by three pit bulls.

“Never a day in my life”, she said.

Now, there’s a sign out front reading “family in mourning”. It’s unclear how the two younger dogs got loose, but it’s possible the boy let them out.

Investigators say the dogs likely will be euthanized.