"John" JENKINS - 4 months - Jacksonville NC

Police: Dog Chewed Off Baby's Toes as Mom Slept

Monday, August 31, 2009

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Authorities say they are charging a North Carolina woman who slept as a pit bull chewed the toes off her 4-month-old baby's left foot.

The Onslow County Sheriff's Office said Monday that the child's mother, Robie Lynn Jenkins, and her boyfriend, Tremayne Spillman, will be charged with felony child abuse.

Deputies say the couple were dog-sitting the 1-year-old pit bull for a friend who had been arrested on gun charges.

Officials say Jenkins told investigators she was on medication and didn't hear the child crying as the two slept in the same room Sunday night. She says she didn't notice the injury until she changed the baby's diaper Monday morning.

Jenkins and Spillman did not have a listed phone number, and authorities would not say whether they had attorneys.

A pit bull that chewed off the toes of a 4-month old baby has been
euthanized, while the child's mother and her boyfriend remain in
custody, charged with felony child abuse.

The year-old dog was put down in order to test for rabies, an
official for Onslow County Animal Control said. The dog tested negative
for the disease.

Messages left for the attorneys of Robie Lynn Jenkins, the baby's
mother, and her boyfriend, Tremayne Spillman, were not returned
yesterday.

The baby boy was in stable condition yesterday at Pitt County
Memorial Hospital after the dog chewed the toes off his left foot
Sunday night.

Jenkins told police that she was on medication and didn't hear the baby crying even though she was sleeping in the same room.