http://newsok.com/article/3279574/?print=1
By Johnny Johnson
Staff Writer
TULSA — Police are trying to determine whether drugs or alcohol use may have kept a 17-year-old mother from waking up while her 2-month-old baby was eaten alive by the family's Labrador puppy.
In an affidavit for a search warrant filed Monday, police said Linzy Leigh Earles, mother of Zane Earles, left the child unattended in an infant swing for about two hours on July 28 while she "went back to her bedroom and slept.”
"During that time, ... a 9- to 12-week-old Lab puppy that was left loose in the house ate the 2-month-old victim,” the document alleged.
The affidavit said Linzy Earles has a history of drug abuse and was just taken off juvenile probation for drug charges in June.
What's next in investigation?
Investigators have been granted a warrant to test the mother's hair and take a blood sample to determine whether she was under the influence of alcohol or narcotics at the time of her son's death, and to possibly explain why "she was unable to wake up to hear her baby's screams prior to her baby's death,” according to an affidavit.
Police plan to conduct a decibel sound test in the home to find out whether any screams from the infant should have been heard when he was being attacked by the puppy, the affidavit states. Tests will be conducted inside the house to find any possible body fluids left at the scene by the puppy "tracked through the residence after eating the victim.”
What happened?
Police first received a call of the mauling at about 10:20 a.m. July 28, and responded to a residence owned by Stan and Holly Earles, Linzy Earles' parents.
When officers arrived they found Zane been "eaten alive,” the affidavit said. Officers later determined that the child had been left alone in the swing after Stan Earles went to work about 8:30 a.m., while Linzy Earles and Holly Earles, zane's grandmother, slept in bedrooms that were about 65 to 85 feet away from the infant.
The black Labrador puppy was taken to the Tulsa Animal Shelter to be euthanized so investigators could recover evidence from the animal. The state medical examiner's office is waiting on toxicology results before listing a cause of death for the infant.