Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Big Twist in Ohio Baby's Pitbull Death Investigation

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. I was out back and I just threw there screaming. That's Blake Bates and his girlfriend right after their pit bull attack their baby boy. Is it your dog? Yeah. Okay. Blake Bates and Alyssa Smith face criminal charges, but now one of them has turned on the other.

Starting point is 00:00:26 I have the details and the body camera video. you'll see only here on Crime Fix. Thanks for joining me. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Royal Bates was just six months old when he was killed by his family's pit bull mix, Keelow. The baby boy died in April of 2024

Starting point is 00:00:50 after that dog attacked him at his parents' home in Marion, Ohio. That's about 50 miles north of the state's capital, Now, we're now getting a look at how Marion police officers and EMTs tried to save Baby Royals' life from body-worn camera footage from that day. Officer Caleb Rector arrived and ran to the porch where Alyssa Smith was trying to help her son. Where's the dog? He's out back.

Starting point is 00:01:21 All the way out back. Is he locked up somewhere? He's in the backyard. I need someone now. Please. Please. Please. Be careful, right there.

Starting point is 00:01:34 I got you, hold on all. I need my phone. Underneath it, there we go. Thank you. Coming up. Shit. Thank you. Oh, it's crack.

Starting point is 00:01:54 What the fucking open. Let's don't get up front drive. You're going your dad right now. Around the same time, Officer Jared Robinson was pulling up in his cruiser, and it was all hands on deck. EMTs were treating Baby Royal. Take them inside. Where is my son? Where is my son?

Starting point is 00:02:29 Yeah, you're going to be a call on your dad right now. Hey? Can I come in, please? Are you there? Hey. I'm sorry. I just want to. Do you have a corner?

Starting point is 00:02:52 I can take you out there. Oh, yeah. I can take you if you don't have a car. Here, Claire. I don't want this is water over the cat. He's just pressing in you, man. Okay. Oh my God.

Starting point is 00:03:19 I need, I... I... I know. I know you are. This is the first time he's done it like, this is not... This is not, but he's got to go. Well, obviously. He, this is better for making it.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Are you guys mom and dad? Yes. Okay. Is it just you guys here? It was my. We're over there. He's okay. Yes.

Starting point is 00:03:42 Cometized. Right. Um, we're going to take pictures, but. Hello, I need you out my house now. If you want to start that, I was just trying to be easy that it's not good. Officer Robinson encountered Royal's parents, Blake Bates, and Alyssa. Smith. You heard Alyssa say, he's got to go. And Blake responded, well, obviously, she was talking about Kilo, the couple's pit bull mix. The prosecutor says Kilo attacked Royal when he rolled off the couch. His older sister, she was about seven, was watching him at the time, while Alyssa Smith was taking a shower. Are you guys going to go out to the hospital? Yes. Yes. How are you getting there?

Starting point is 00:04:22 I will drive, but I kind of. Right. I'm like, I want to get to my. Right. All the good was and then I thought he thought it was a toy or something and our dog just... What kind of dog is it? It's a great day in a pit

Starting point is 00:04:40 and something else mixed. Hey, it's been, baby. Okay, okay? Hey, come here, please. Okay. There's a reason crime fix is one of the top-ranked shows on YouTube right now,

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Starting point is 00:05:38 makes it truly so easy. You can start a claim from your phone and just eight clicks. So if you're ever hurt, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash crime fix by clicking the link below or scanning that QR code that you see on your screen. Eventually, Blake Bates starts talking to the officer, and the officer goes inside the house. The footage inside the house is redacted, so that's why it's going to be really blurry when you see it. Yeah, I was out back, and I just heard of screaming. So I ran it. Try to stick my hands in his mouth and just, you know, right on the hands.

Starting point is 00:06:17 It doesn't matter what mommy has to do. Mommy will quit her job and everything. Okay? You just worry about you. Yeah. But go over here and get yourself. No, he's been right here, actually. Hold on.

Starting point is 00:06:28 Do you want to get cleaned up, and then I'll, I can get where you want? That's on her way, his way right now. Okay. You're just covering blood on. I'm just covering. I'm in shock right now. I'm just trying. I'm in shock right now. I don't even know.

Starting point is 00:06:48 I don't even know. Let me go get to the hospital. Let me go get cleaned up, and I'm going to have the hospital. The dogs locked up. Yeah, I was going to put him in the garage, just because I know we can't get out of that. Is that where he's at now? He was just in the, in the, in the backyard. Okay.

Starting point is 00:07:07 I'm so sorry. Can I just see, like, what happened? Yeah. Oh, God! He's laid right there. He's right there. Another officer arrives, and Robinson briefs him on what happened. They got a hold of the dog.

Starting point is 00:07:47 He cried the dog's mouth on. And then I think they were holding running around with. Where is the wrong? In the back on the porch. He's a brendle pit bull, look, and don't hit blood all the region. If you want to go out. Just look out the back. Yeah, that or look out the back sliding glass door.

Starting point is 00:08:12 The officer walks toward the house to get a look at the scene and Keelow who's on the back porch. And then Alyssa Smith comes out to go to the hospital with her son. I love you. I love you. I get it. The dogs are in the cave. Miracle just downstairs. They try to even help. They try to attack Keelow, too.

Starting point is 00:08:33 I know. Do you guys stay here with them for a minute? I'm going to get a hold of your mom to see if they can call. I'm going to get there as soon as I can so I can make a... If you want to get cleaned up, man, I'll give you a ride if you need that. It's okay. It's okay. You're all right?

Starting point is 00:08:53 We just got to take wheat. This is... It's alive, you walking to me and everything. I know, I just... It's okay, Bubb. I did everything I could. I did CPR.

Starting point is 00:09:11 It's just handle gone bad? The dog? Yeah. The big, the brindle, pit bull, knicks. Apparently, they don't know. They think that the... The boy, essentially.

Starting point is 00:09:28 It's horrible, so. Who are you thinking? Chances? I couldn't tell you, but still alive. But, I mean, there's... Keep... Yeah. Please. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:45 Thank you. I'm so sorry. Just let me know. I'm sorry. Just go. Stop apologizing. I'm sorry. Just go. going through it right now okay officer robinson then talks with neighbors are those dogs problems usually or anything they just they just moved in really yeah so we didn't know too well the my son knows and what like three days four days now we became friends yesterday gotcha when do you think they moved in

Starting point is 00:10:25 Maybe. Yeah. Week, that's it. Then he goes back to Blake Bates. What else do are you mean to do? Anything here? The dogs put up as good as he can be right? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:10:40 Okay. How many dogs do you guys have? Um, four. Because they end up having a litter and we just sold nine of the 12 when we're still trying to get rid of the other three. Yeah. Yeah. Just, uh, Just the one grown dog, though?

Starting point is 00:10:57 Uh, yeah. Gotcha. What was that dog's name? Uh, Kilo. What's your name? Blake. Last name? Bates.

Starting point is 00:11:12 The officers then go to the hospital, where the family is told that baby royal didn't make it. His skull had been ripped open by Kilo. Um, first of all, we're so sorry for your loss. Um, So I have mom and dad. Who else do I have in here? Grandma, Grandma, Grandma. Great Grandma.

Starting point is 00:11:29 Okay. Great Grandma. Okay. Perfect. Her dad. The grandpa is out there. Okay. So, I've been told what's happened from the PD and the squire.

Starting point is 00:11:41 It's obviously an accident, a horrific accident. What's going to happen at this point is we do have to set a autopsy. Yeah. And that is, that's a legal thing. Yeah. Right. Kilo was euthanized and prosecutors say they determined that Blake Bates was doing things to make the dog more aggressive. And that's why he had ripped off Royal Skull after the baby rolled off the couch while being supervised by his older sister. Earlier this year, after a lengthy investigation, Blake Bates and Alyssa Smith were charged criminally for Royal's death. The prosecutors are not saying that Bates and Smith intentionally caused Royal's death. The Whiteman charges them with two separate counts of involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, felony endangering children, and a misdemeanor count of endangering children.

Starting point is 00:12:34 I first told you about this case back in April when the couple was charged, but now Alyssa Smith, she has decided to plead guilty and testify against Blake Bates. So to talk about this new development with the case of Royal Bates, this little baby killed by a pit bull. I want to bring in Mark Weaver. He is the special prosecutor assisting on this case. Mark, Royal Bates' mother has flipped. Tell me about it. Yeah, working with Marion County prosecutor Ray Grogan, who's my boss in this matter, we have convinced the mother of this duo to plead guilty. She came into court just a few days ago, admitted her guilt in child endangerment. That's a third-degree felony in Ohio, punishable by up to three years in prison.

Starting point is 00:13:25 She admitted that she did not properly look out for this little boy, six-month-old boy, essentially leaving him to the predations of this very aggressive pit bull, the family owned. As part of her plea agreement, she understands she's going to be incarcerated. The judge will decide for how long. But she's also agreed to testify against the father of this baby, who probably is the much more culpable actor in this horrible, horrible crime. What prompted this? I mean, did her attorneys come to you all and ask for a deal, or did you all approach her attorneys?

Starting point is 00:14:04 How did this unfold? I had a child rape prosecution a few months ago, and her attorney was the defendant for the child rapist. And so prosecutors and defense lawyers often talk on the breaks, you know, during lunch or whatever, you just catch up. And so we realized that we both had the same case for this matter, for the Alyssa Smith matter. So we began talking about possible resolutions. There was also a felony case against her boyfriend, Dylan Bates, for domestic violence. And we would need her testimony for that case as well. So we did want to have her testimony in both of those cases. And having reviewed

Starting point is 00:14:45 all the facts in the file, Ray Grogan and I both agreed that this was a situation where she was the less culpable of the two. Her big mistake was leaving this baby alone on a couch with a seven-year-old girl wandering around in a pit bull and she went to go take a shower. The mother went to go take a shower. We don't have any evidence that she was the one who tried to make this dog more vicious or more hostile, although we do have some evidence suggesting that the father did that. And so this is one of those arrangements that prosecutors make to secure conviction to protect, in this case, the seven-year-old girlhood, who's now eight years old, and to put in some serious conditions of post-release control to make sure that what this woman does will not allow something like this to happen again. So Alyssa Smith is going to come into court, or at least she's agreed to come into court, and tell you. testify that her boyfriend, Royal's father, did things to make this dog kilo more vicious.

Starting point is 00:15:55 Yes, we have testimony from other people who have been in that house who were aware of the things he did. In some cases, caging the dog for a long period of time, sometimes not feeding the dog. There were incidents where the dog got out and was aggressive with another child in the neighborhood. we think there might be more than one. And the person who will know the most about that is Alyssa Smith. So she has agreed to testify truthfully against her boyfriend. And as a result, we're going to be, we're going to be seeking to use her testimony in his trial to convict him of much more serious felonies than what she's pleading guilty to. Does she have any remorse about this?

Starting point is 00:16:37 I mean, I could see her saying, you know, I went and took a shower. You know, I didn't do this, but, I mean, is there any remorse on her part, any, any acknowledgement that she screwed up here? Yes and no. She appeared contrite when she went in front of the judge, but we did have a back and forth for a while of trying to get her degree to do this. And just before the agreement was reached, she filed a handwritten request to change out her lawyer, which to me suggested that she was trying to escape responsibility. there was a hearing set on that request for her to change her lawyer, and it was at that hearing where she realized that this was not going in a good direction. She withdrew that request accepted our offer to plead guilty to the single count of the third-degree felony of child endangerment and essentially allow Judge Todd Anderson

Starting point is 00:17:29 to decide how long she will spend behind bars. The allegations in this case are just horrific. I think any parent can can kind of wrap their head around like, okay, I'm going to jump in the shower. But when you do that, you know, you typically put the baby in the crib or a pumpkin seat and strap them in and you put them in the bathroom with you while you're showering, you know, something like that. This was a baby, a six-month-old defenseless baby left with his older sister on the couch.

Starting point is 00:18:04 the way that it's been described is that Kilo is loose in the house and that Royal rolls off the couch and then Kilo rips his skull open I mean just to me it's it's absolutely stunning of the fact that you would leave I mean even a even like a non-vicious dog you've got to be careful and not leave them alone an animal alone with a baby Yeah, I know not every viewer will agree with this, but pit bulls have a unique capacity to inflict damage, both because of the strength of their jaws and because they're often aggressive nature. I'm sure there are pit bulls that are docile and well-trained, but we see most of this

Starting point is 00:18:49 kind of assaults happening with certain breeds of dog and pit bull pops up over and over again. I want to tell you, I've worked murder cases, serial killers, death penalty cases, child rape cases. The body cam footage, the autopsy photos, the crime scene photos from this case have been as difficult for me to view as anything I've ever seen in my career. It is just absolutely horrifying. I made the mistake of clicking into the autopsy photos of this poor little baby boy, six months old, and the damage done to him is just unspeakable. And so this case is a fact. me, and I've been doing prosecutions against violent felons since 2001. This was a particularly heinous case.

Starting point is 00:19:39 I'm glad that this woman is willing to take responsibility for what I think is a lesser role in the crime. And then we will hold Dylan Bates fully accountable. He's, of course, presumed to be innocent as every defendant is. But we will hold him accountable for what we think is serious criminal behavior. Was there any evidence that you've uncovered that he, was making the dog more vicious withholding the food, caging the dog. And I mean, just that's maddening to me because, I mean, it's an animal.

Starting point is 00:20:12 I mean, you don't just don't treat a pet like that. Don't treat anything like that, any being. But was there any evidence that he was using the dog for fighting or what is the deal? What was the end? We don't have any evidence of dog fighting in this case. what I've noticed just having prosecuted cases and also talk to police agencies all around the country over the years as I do training and meetings with them is there is a certain subculture of America. We're having a tough dog to mostly men, having a tough dog makes you a tough person

Starting point is 00:20:44 and that if you have a tough dog that people better watch out because you're a tough guy. I don't know that that's going to be part of our case at trial here. I know that that is something that we've seen across the country that certain kinds of people will acquire a pit bull or another very vicious dog and keep it vicious as a way of showing a demeanor of toughness. So whether or not that comes up a trial, we'll see. We certainly have evidence from people outside the house who spoke into this man's life and said, you want to be careful with this dog around children. This is an aggressive dog. So he had plenty of notice that this could happen, perhaps different than Alyssa. I don't know that she had quite the amount of

Starting point is 00:21:25 notice that he did. But he certainly had plenty of notice that this dog was vicious. And he knew the dog better than anybody else. Well, we will keep an eye on it. It's just a really disturbing case. Mark Weaver, special prosecutor. Thank you so much. A sad case. Yes. Thank you, Ingenet. Blake Bates has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled for later this year. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ingenet Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time. Thank you. Thank you.

Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Big Twist in Ohio Baby's Pitbull Death Investigation

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