But absent any new evidence, no science is likely to point out which — if any — humans can be held liable for the boy’s death, investigators said Tuesday.
Many questions remain unanswered concerning Ja’Marr’s death, Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten and County Sheriff Al Cannon said at a joint press conference.
The coroner’s and sheriff’s offices are probing the boy’s death “cooperatively and independently,” Wooten said, adding the state Attorney General’s Office and the 9th Circuit Solicitor’s Office have been consulted concerning the case and applicable laws.
It has not been possible, at least so far, to find probable cause to charge anyone in the boy’s death, Cannon said. Any charges may depend on the coroner’s findings, he said.
Wooten said she’s considering convening a coroner’s inquest as part of the search for answers.
Authorities believe Ja’Marr was attacked about 8 p.m. May 27 after he somehow slipped through a doorway at his home in the 2700 block of U.S. Highway 17 near Mount Pleasant and was mauled in his backyard.
Wooten said that until recently, authorities were certain only that the toddler was killed by “some sort of animal.” Two female Lab-shepherd mixes suspected of having made the fatal bites have been in Charleston Animal Society pens since the incident. The science of Odontology has now connected the dogs to the attack, she said.
Odontology findings
Wooten said forensic dentists that usually deal with human bite marks studied photos and impressions of animal bites found on Ja’Marr. The bite marks were compared with plaster casts made of the dogs’ teeth while they were sedated.
“We are able to say the impressions are consistent” with the bite marks on the boy, Wooten said. She said that although Odontology could not absolutely rule out that other dogs might have been involved in the attack, the tests concluded that both of the dogs in custody bit the boy multiple times.
“We are able to say that both dogs were involved. He was bitten more than once by both dogs,” she said. She said it was not possible to say what triggered the dogs’ attack or which dog bit the boy first.
“Many questions we will never have the answers to,” she said.
Cannon, who expressed support for an inquest, said his investigators are also dealing with matters difficult or impossible to resolve.
Among the complexities of the case, he said, is the fact that no one claims ownership of the dogs. Someone in Ja’Marr’s household had fed the dogs before, as had another family in the area. “The dogs roamed freely in the area,” and neither family considered the dogs to be theirs, Cannon said.
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| The backyard where little Ja'Marr was killed |
“They were not family pets, but stray dogs that had been fed,” Cannon said. He said among the legal issues is what exactly constitutes ownership of a dog.
He said no decision has been made concerning the dogs’ future.
Because there are no known eyewitnesses to the incident, Cannon said investigators don’t know how long the boy was outside, what prompted the attack or how long it lasted.
Ja’Marr’s mother, Deandra Tiller, was away running errands at the time the boy wandered outside and was attacked, Cannon said. The boy’s grandmother and an aunt and uncle were in the home, but none apparently were aware the boy was gone or had been attacked, he said.
Ja’Marr was found when Tiller arrived home around 8:30 p.m. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
(Post and Courier - June 6, 2012)
