Dropping your child off at day care is the strangest feeling, especially when they are tiny toddlers. I had to go back to work 11 weeks into my postpartum journey (thanks, America!) and I remember leaving him there felt like the scariest thing I had ever done.
Despite thoroughly vetting the place and despite knowing historically nothing bad had happened at the facility, even as it became routine, there was a part of me that always panicked leaving him. When you choose a day care, you’re giving over the highest amount of trust money can literally buy, and when that trust is egregiously betrayed, it’s a feeling parents will grapple with for the rest of their lives.
Sadly, a Georgia mom will be living with the “what if” for the rest of her life. At an allegedly unlicensed day care, 2-year-old Kaimir Jones died after being attacked by two “large” dogs, according to People. A statement from the Valdosta Police Department shared that when first responders arrived, they found the child deceased.
The investigation led police to determine that the owner, Stacy Wheeler Cobb, was running her day care unlicensed. Wheeler reportedly took a nap and left the child unattended for two hours and apparently told police she believed the child was napping as well, the magazine reported.
During the time the little boy was left unattended, he seemingly wandered into the backyard and opened the kennel that housed the two Rottweilers, and they mauled the boy to death.
“My baby needs justice,” the boy’s mother, Adrianna Jones, tearfully told WALB. “Please promise me to keep my baby’s name alive — he deserves it.”
Cobb was arrested and has been charged with two felony counts: murder in the second degree and cruelty to children. The toddler was the only child in attendance that day, but police stated that there were typically upward of 10 children at a time in her home, according to WALB.
“This is a horrible and tragic event that should have never occurred, but because of negligence on this offender’s behalf, a mother has tragically lost a child,” Chief Leslie Manahan shared in the statement. “I want to express our department’s deepest sympathy to the family. No words will ever ease their pain, but our hearts go out to them during this unimaginably difficult time. I also keep our first responders in my prayers, as they continue processing their response to this tragic scene.”
Adrianna started a GoFundMe account to help pay for a memorial service and other essentials to give her son a proper burial.
Police have said the case is still under investigation.
