Jordyn Arndt was attacked about 2 p.m. Monday by an American Staffordshire terrier named Brutus at a house at 300 S. Marshall St. in Prairie City, police said. Jordyn was flown by air ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines.
The girl died about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday with her family by her side.
“She fought so hard,” the girl’s mother, Jessica Arndt, told The Des Moines Register. “She is loved and will be missed.”
Jena Marie Wright, 24, of Prairie City was baby-sitting Jordyn and her brother when the incident occurred.
Wright was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with child endangerment causing death, a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. She was also charged with neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $1,000 to $10,000. She is being held in the Jasper County Jail.
Thirty-one fatal dog attacks occurred in the U.S. in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, according to DogsBite.org. Pit bulls, which make up less than 5 percent of the U.S. dog population, accounted for 71 percent of the attacks, according to the website.
The American Kennel Club describes American Staffordshire terriers as “courageous and strong.” The breed is “loyal to his family and will protect them from any threat,” according to the AKC’s website.
The breed is believed to have originated as a mix of a long-legged English bulldog and a terrier. Over the years, it has also been called a pit dog and a pit bull terrier, according to the AKC.
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| Brutus, the pit bull which killed Jordyn |
The most recent death of a child in Iowa involving dog attacks was in March 2011 in Hopkinton. Vanessa Husmann, 3, was attacked in her backyard by two Rottweilers who had gotten out of their kennel.
Prairie City Police Chief Louis Modlin on Monday gave a letter to the owners of the dog — Harmon Wesley Wright III and Jena Wright — telling them it was considered dangerous and that it could not be harbored within the city limits. The dog is in quarantine at a veterinary clinic in Newton, Modlin said.
He declined to comment on whether authorities have had previous complaints about the animal or its owners, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.
He did say that city officials would review their animal control policies in the coming days.
The Iowa Department of Human Services could also review the incident, an official said.
DHS performs a child abuse assessment in cases where children receive injuries that appear to be preventable, according to DHS spokesman Roger Munns.
When a child’s injury is caused by an animal, the assessment determines whether there was a failure to provide proper supervision, Munns said. The findings are not considered criminal and the results are not public unless the child dies. In egregious cases, child endangerment charges could be filed, he said.
Munns said DHS investigates a “very small” number of cases involving dog bites. Officials usually look to see if a child was properly supervised, he said.
The house where the attack occurred is in the shadow of Prairie City’s towering grain elevator, where worn houses stand next to well-maintained ones. The home where the mauling occurred was one of the former.
On Tuesday, two dirt-splattered vehicles sat in front of it — a Jeep 4x4 at the curb and a Fisher-Price tricycle in the front lawn. Also in the yard was an orange-and-black stroller that lay on its side and a coiled-up dog leash. The fenced-in backyard was strewn with children’s toys.
Angela Clark operates a child care service in her home, across the street from where the incident took place.
She said that she saw the dog outside only occasionally and felt it was properly cared for, but that in the wake of the incident, tighter restrictions on the types of dogs allowed within city limits were needed.
“With that breed of dog, red flags would be raised for me around children, in the neighborhood that we live in,” she said.
Jessica Arndt said Wright called her Monday afternoon to tell her Jordyn had been injured.
She said she and other family members spent Jordyn’s last hours by her side.
There was no conversation, she said, because Jordyn was unconscious.
“When it was time, toward the end, we just told her she was going to a better place, and people loved her up there and would take care of her,” Arndt said.
Jordyn enjoyed running, swimming and playing in the dirt, her mother said. When indoors, Jordyn was often coloring, playing house and playing with dolls. “She loved to wear dresses, but yet she could be out there with the boys.”
Besides her mother, Jordyn is survived by her father, Jason, and her brother, Aden, 7, Arndt said.
Jena Wright was watching Jordyn while Arndt was at work. Arndt said she hasn’t spoken with Wright since the incident but has been told Wright is not doing well.
“I don’t want to put any blame on her, because it was an animal,” Arndt said. “I’m sure they’ll do their own blame, as far as investigation-wise. I’m not going to do that.”
Added Arndt: “She needs a lot of prayers, too.”
Wright was arrested in April 2011 after police and drug task force agents found three marijuana plants growing in an unlocked basement at the same Marshall Street house where Jordyn Arndt was attacked, Modlin said.
Wright’s husband, Harmon Wesley Wright III, also was arrested and the couple’s then-2-year-old child was taken into protective custody, Modlin said
Jena Wright pleaded guilty of possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced in April 2012 to two days in jail, court records show.
Register staff writers Regina Zilbermints and Joel Aschbrenner contributed to this story.
(Des Moines Register - April 23, 2013)
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