UPDATED Child Death
Investigation
August 8, 2014
On August 7, 2014 at
approximately 8:30 AM, Deputies from the Levy County Sheriff’s Office responded
to 7297 NW 162nd Street ,
Trenton Levy County , Florida
The child had injuries consistent
with being attacked by a dog or dogs.
The subsequent investigation revealed that the child had been left in
the care of his paternal aunt, Heather Claar.
Claar resides at the incident location.
Claar had allowed the Victim to go outside the home to play at the same
time she allowed two of her pit bulldogs outside. For unknown reasons, the dogs attacked and
killed the child outside the residence.
There were no eyewitnesses to the attack. The Victim was not a stranger to the dogs and
had been around them on a regular basis.
Animal Control personnel removed multiple dogs from the property for
quarantine purposes.
This incident was emotionally
stressful on family members as well as the law enforcement, EMS
and Animal Control personnel who responded.
LCSO thanks all who provided assistance including Levy County Animal
Control, the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office, the Medical Examiner’s Office
and Another Way, Inc.
The Victim’s family asked that LCSO issue the following
statement:
On behalf of the Joel
Chirieleison family, we would like to thank everyone for their prayers and
concerns, but at this time we would ask that you respect our time to be alone
as a family. Please direct any questions or concerns to the Levy County
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