(Beth Clifton collage)
The low Texas minimum wage helped to set up the circumstances, but the three pit bulls did the killing
CONVERSE, Texas––Why was one-year-old Jiryiah Johnson torn to bloody shreds by three pit bulls in his babysitter’s bedroom on October 7, 2024, despite the frantic efforts of his babysitter’s 13-year-old daughter to save him?
Why did Heather Rodriguez, 36, of Converse, Texas, have three pit bulls in the home where she was babysitting, even after an “an April incident,” described by Kristin Dean and David Lynch of KSAT-TV in San Antonio, “where a man was stuck in his car and afraid to leave lest he be attacked”?
Why, why, why?
Why did Erika Monique Castro, 34, mother of Jiryiah Johnson and a longtime pit bull owner herself, leave the child with Rodriguez in her dilapidated and filthy household?
Why was Heather Rodriguez’s 13-year-old daughter home alone with the baby and the pit bulls at 10 a.m. on a Monday morning, instead of in school?
Castro, a restaurant server despite being both a dental school graduate and educationally qualified to be a nurse’s aide, told KSAT that Rodriguez left Jiryiah Johnson in care of her 13-year-old daughter because Rodriguez was unexpectedly called to work.
$7.25 an hour
Castro was also working. An astute social critic might observe that the scenario might not have unfolded as it did if the Texas minimum wage was not $7.25 an hour, less for workers who receive tips, and if adequate child care options were available to low-wage working mothers.
But an astute social critic might also observe that people in minimum wage jobs cannot afford to keep pit bulls, let alone keep three of them in a high-liability situation, even if those people are unaware that the average insurance payout in a dog bite case is now more than $58,000, and that the average pit bull attack death payout runs about twice as high as a full-time Texas minimum wage worker’s estimated 50-year lifetime earnings of $754,000.
One-year-old victim “underwent numerous procedures”
Reported San Antonio Express-News staff writer Jacob Beltran, “One-year-old Jiryiah Johnson underwent numerous procedures before he died at University Hospital Monday evening, authorities say.”
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told Beltran, Beltran paraphrased, that “The baby, who was resuscitated at least once, suffered severe injuries to his head, face, neck and throat. His throat and airway were so damaged, he couldn’t breathe normally.
“The baby was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in critical condition. Medical staff tried to stabilize the baby so that he could be airlifted to University Hospital, but they were not able to do so.”
Sheriff considers 13-year-old girl “a hero”
Salazar, Beltran pointed out, “considers the teen, who fought the dogs to save the baby’s life,” and was suffered multiple bites herself, “a hero.”
“She made every effort possible,” Salazar told Katrina Webber of KSAZT, “even lifting that baby over her head, But my understanding is the dog climbed onto something and was able to get the baby out of her hands.”
Salazar explained that the three pit bulls bit through the bedroom door, that they had already damaged, to get to the baby.
“One dog pulled the baby from the bed,” recounted Beltran, “and another dog joined in the attack. There was a ‘tug-of-war’ between the girl and one of the dogs for the baby, Salazar said.
Pit bulls “forced their way into the bathroom”
“The girl spent about two minutes trying to fight the dogs off. She was able to escape with the baby into a bathroom, but the dogs forced their way into the bathroom as well, continuing to attack them.
“That’s when one of the dogs bit the girl.”
Said Salazar, “At a certain point, she had to break away, and physically left the baby behind in the bathroom, and went to get her cell phone to call for help.”
Resumed Beltran, “The girl grabbed her cell phone, returned to the bathroom, and resumed fighting with the dogs.
“She then escaped with the baby into another bedroom, barricading the door until deputies arrived.”
(Facebook photo)
“Filed the most serious offense applicable”
Rodriguez is now charged with causing injury to a child resulting in serious bodily injury, a first-degree felony, which in Texas carries the same potential penalties as murder.
“At this point, investigators have filed the most serious offense applicable to this tragic incident, Salazar said. “However, the investigation remains ongoing. If additional charges can be filed against this suspect, investigators will certainly do so in order to bring her to justice.”
Rodriguez is currently held on bail.
Bexar County Animal Control Services impounded the three pit bulls.
(Bexar County Sheriff’s Office photo)
“More concerned about her dogs than about the baby”
“Rodriguez, who arrived back at the home as deputies were trying to enter it, was able to put the dogs in the backyard, Salazar said,” reported Webber for KSAT.
“However, when Bexar County Animal Control officers attempted to take custody of the animals, Rodriguez attempted to intervene, Salazar said.
“Salazar said Rodriguez seemed more concerned about her dogs being removed than about the baby being attacked,” both Webber and Beltran mentioned.
Only one of the pit bulls was “fully surrendered,” Salazar said, without explaining what he meant.
(Facebook photo)
15 miles from San Antonio
Converse, Texas, is about 15 miles from downtown San Antonio, where Texas State District Judge Velia Meza on September 20, 2024 hit former pit bull owners Christian Moreno and Abilene Schnieder Moreno, both 32, with 18-year and 15-year prison sentences, respectively, for the mauling death of retired U.S. Air Force veteran Ramon Najera Jr., 81, and severe mauling injuries suffered by his widow, Juanita “Janie” Najera, 75, on February 24, 2023.
(See Pit bull mauling death of Ramon Najera, 81, shocks San Antonio and “Latin Kings” gang sign in court as killer pit bull owners are sentenced.)
Bexar County, of which San Antonio is the county seat, has had persistent issues for more than a decade resulting from failures of animal control to impound pit bulls exhibiting dangerous behavior and either euthanize them or keep them in custody.
(See Why San Antonio Animal Care Services did not promptly impound a gunshot-wounded mastiff found running in a pack and Audit hits San Antonio Animal Care Services for neglect of public safety.)
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Sad. Really sad. Why can’t they just ban pit bulls? And other similar human killing dogs (HKDs)?
Shamsudeen
Another well written article. So sad, so very sad because it is all easily avoidable.
Most of my friends do not live in the USA and may not get all of the news that emanates from here, so I have to explain to them that IMHO, this is the world’s biggest insane asylum.
Sharing with gratitude…and you know the rest.
Thank you for recognizing how the poverty played into this situation. That poor baby being literally drawn and quartered by those dogs and the young girl valiantly choosing to fight ferociously to save that doomed baby is such a horrible mental picture. I hope CPS takes the teen into foster care and gets her professional mental health treatment as her life will never be the same carrying that trauma.
There’s a lot of information that’s easy to find from Facebook and Instagram on the dogs that killed Jiryiah Johnson.
I know the female dog, Monae/Monea/Covidia was from a kennel in New York called SnowstormBullies. She was originally called Covidia as a puppy, and Heather and her ex, Jason Reddick on FB, eventually started breeding the dog. I believe one of the other dogs involved was part of the breeding pair.
Her ex ran an Instagram called “snowstrom_bullies_texas” which is spelled wrong but still ran through the parent kennel SnowstormBullies.
The owner of the kennel in NY seems to not advertise connected kennels aside from one in Florida, but does have connect kennels all over the world even in the UK. You can find pictures and shares on his account from the parent kennel advertising his dogs, which are puppies of the attacking dogs.
I’m sickened by the fact that the parent kennels advertises these dogs as being great with families and kids, while breeding aggressive dogs. I was trying to see if they had any relation to killer Kimbo but I was having trouble finding their dogs as registered.
We all can pray that this is FINALLY a wake up call for San Antonio ACS. They routinely hold on to pit bulls while euthanizing healthy puppies (non-aggressive breed). I have fostered for ACS and almost daily watch their Urgent Pet Listings. These are animals that will be euthanized that day without confirmed placement. The office staff and trainers often “pull” their favorite pitties and will hold them in crates in their cubicles to prevent them from being euthanized after their 3 day hold.
https://www.sa.gov/Directory/Departments/ACS/Placement-Surrender/Urgent This is the link to San Antonio ACS urgent placements. Under “Capacity Euthanasia” tab you can scroll down and see the listing for “Athena” who has been held in the Field Manager’s office for 70 days. This is a pitbull with a known bite history that they called, “a mild bite.’ It is my opinion that ALL pitbulls should be euthanized to clear the shelter out for safe adoptable dogs and especially pitbulls with known bite histories. This field manager should be ashamed of herself and so should San Antonio and Animal Control Services!
I only saw a couple of dogs that weren’t pit bulls on the list. I think it’s sad that they have puppies under a year old or a shitzu mix on the list to be euthanized. Surly these types of dogs are adoptable! I was reading the reddit thread about this baby & one of the pit nutters was saying that the pit bulls went nuts and killed the baby because of the material the doors were made of! They’re certainly getting creative with the excuses for the maulers reasons to kill an innocent baby! These dogs didn’t just bite him and then he died the fact that they hunted the baby down and broke through multiple doors and got the baby while the girl held him above her head is unreal! I agree that this girl deserves a lot better parent than what she has and she will definitely need to get professional help for the PTSD this will probably cause her! Let’s hope that Texas gives this owner the same sentence that her dogs are getting and euthanize them all!
What a horrible tragedy. Sad that poverty played into this, as well as poor human judgment and irresponsibility by the dog’s owner. I feel for both the baby’s parents and the owner’s daughter who will be haunted by this trauma for a very long time.