Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Ohio Mom Locked Up for Baby's Horrifying Pit Bull Killing

Episode Date: October 17, 2025

Alyssa Smith believed she would receive a 90-day sentence in jail and probation for the death of her 6-month-old son, Royal Bates. Royal was attacked and killed by a pit bull mix in April 2024. Nearly a year later, Smith and Royal's father, Blake Bates, were charged in connection with his death. Now both have pleaded guilty and the judge slapped Smith which a much longer sentence after her sister told the judge about her lack of care and remorse when it came to her children. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy has the stunning details in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Stay Informed, Stay Safe – Check Public Records with TruthFinder now at  https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. You're recently with everything going on, I have started dreaming. I have cried every night. The mother of a baby killed by a pit bull explaining her demeanor after the baby's death as her sister reveals details about the day the baby died. When we were in the hospital, Alyssa just kept talking about how she wanted. to go get high instead of the fact that her son had just died.

But the judge doesn't buy into the excuses. You have no remorse for this or you at least show no remorse. I have the dramatic sentencing of Alyssa Smith for the death of her son Royal and the plot twist that no one saw coming. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Annette Levy. Alyssa Smith thought she was going to spend 90 days in jail for the horrific death of her six-month-old son, Royal. But it didn't work out that way for her. I've told you about baby Royal before.

He's the baby, killed by a pit bull mix named Keelow in Marion County, Ohio in April of last year. Royal's older, seven-year-old sister, was keeping an eye on him while their mom, Alyssa Smith, was out of the room, and he rolled off the couch. Keelow attacked Baby Royal and ripped open his skull. EMTs tried to save Royal as his mom and dad, Blake Bates, basically freaked out. Where's the dog? He's out back. Oh, way out back. Is he locked up somewhere?

He's in the backyard. I need someone now. Please, please, please, please. Be careful. Right there. I got your phone on. I need my phone. I need my phone.

Thank you. Coming up. Thank you. Oh, it's crack, what the fucking open. Don't get up and drive. You're calling your dad right now. Smith and Bates also briefly discussed Keelow. Take them inside.

I don't. I don't. Where's my son? I don't. Okay. Can I come in please? Can I come in please? Do you have a car? I can take you out there. I can take you if you don't have a car. I can take you if you don't have a car. You're just breath to you, man.

Okay. Okay. Oh, look. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. God. I need, I, I, I, I, I, I know, I know you are. This is the first time he's done it, like, this is not, but he's got to go. Well, obviously, he, this is better, make it.

Are you guys mom and dad? Yes. Okay. Is it just you guys here? It was my, we're over there at the, he's okay. Yes, traumatized. Right. Um, we're going to take pictures, but. Hello, I need you out my house now. If you want to start of that, I was just trying to be easy that it's not good. This case right here goes to show you how important it is to know about the people living right next door to you.

Our partner, truthfinder.com, is a powerful public record search service, and we use it all of the time to research people here at law and crime. Talk about a useful resource. You plug in a name and you'll get an address. You'll get criminal records history. And let me just say, this can give you peace of mind. TruthFinder is one of the largest public record search services in the U.S. And with a paid subscription service, you get access to unlimited reports of almost anyone. And that includes looking up registered sex offenders in your neighborhood.

You might even be shocked to look up yourself and see what you find. Stay informed, stay safe, and check public records with Truthfinder now at truthfinder.com slash LC crime fix. Now, there was nothing that could be done to save baby royal. the baby was dead and Keelow, the dog warden determined had to go. Now, this wasn't the dog warden's first run in with Keelow. He'd warned Bates and Smith about him a year earlier in April of 2023. How's going, boss? Oh, it's going. So what happened today? I had come out to get in the car and my one dog had got out and I didn't see him and he kind of ran around the fence there and was

kind of barking at the kids or whatever. And then I could, she yelled. I yelled. I yelled. and he just came back or whatever but he did like growl at him and bark at him he grabbed him he did yeah i got him on video he didn't there was no uh like get to see it i was in the car no you're fine so he uh he didn't have a bite marker anything he had a scratch so like he got away from the dog and time but he did go after the kid yeah yeah because you can see it in the video where your dog like was right up on his legs and he's okay yeah i did see that I did see that. Yeah.

I did see that. So, I mean, I get accidents happen. Yeah. Right. But I'm being told that the dogs are out quite often. I mean, I have them. I put them on my chain thing here. Yeah, but they're saying that they run loose too.

Oh, no, no, no. I don't just let them just run around. Right. Because there was an incident with a kid and he went after him. Right. I have to cite you for a fair to confine the dog, okay? I will give you a break on the fair to register. I'm not going to cite you guys for that.

That's right. I'm not going to hit you with. three tickets right off of that, you know, you know, and I don't want to cause any issues with you guys, but yeah, he did grab the kid. I got on video. He scratched him with us too. Usually he's out here on a leash or whatever. It could have been worse, but the kid, I think it was the, the kid's pants and stuff got, you know, he might have grabbed the pants, but, but we got to make sure we keep an eye on him from getting out. Okay, we'll learn more about what proceeded that meeting between the dog warden and Bates and Smith shortly. Alyssa Smith and Blake Bates were.

indicted by a grand jury earlier this year for Royal's death. They were charged with involuntary manslaughter, child endangering, and other counts. Alyssa Smith agreed to plead guilty to child endangering in exchange for agreeing to testify against Blake Bates in this case and a domestic violence case for a recommended 90-day sentence. But then Blake Bates agreed to plead guilty earlier this month, so Smith never had to testify. And this week, she was sentenced and things got very interesting. We found out a lot of new information and we heard a 911 call that prompted that 2023 visit to Bates and Smith about Kilo almost biting a child. All right. And what's going on? The dog, the dog pretty much attacked my son. I don't know if they, they just let the

dog freely. Now you mean pretty much attacked your son. Did he attack him? Yes. He has got scratch marks on him he did not get this the dog went to go bite my son he was nearly at my son he has a scratch mark from the dog's fall the owner come out and yell because they just let him out this is not the first time this is the second or the third time you can ask my landlord's even called well on our property my kids were riding the scooters I have three little kids they were going to get it my son is in tears i gotcha they need to let their dogs on a leash they're going to let them out okay so they let the dogs out and then the dog came after your son he didn't bite him but he scratched him he was going to attack my son yep i got that i got that in you that he went

after your son i don't know it happened i have like i said i have three kids and i'm shooking up i got three kids And all I seen, as I was getting my three-year-old, because I have a three, a six, and a seven-year-old. I look old in that dog. If that owner did not come out, he would have ate my son up. And I wouldn't know what to do. All right. Do you want a squad to come check out your son? Yeah.

I don't know. He's all shook and up. Oh, it's up to you. I want to spend with this dog. I understand, but do you want a squad to come check your son out? Tass, do you want a squad? Are you okay? I think he'll be okay.

All right. He's more shooking up. All right. If he needs a squad, you just let me know any point. Are the dogs back in the house now? The dog is back in the house. It's a big pit bull.

I don't wonder if they have a license for it. Probably not. This isn't the first time that my landlord's called on them before because the dog almost attacked my landlord when he's fixing up these houses. Now, obviously that mother was beside herself upset that a pit bull almost attacked her son then the dog warden showed up well i'll play the whole thing it's kind of long but sit my son sit right there he lets him out the door to go to the bathroom and the dog just dark

you can see him letting him out the door if you look real closely and you have to look real close in the back the dog brows and does to bite his leg he did not get bit he did not get bit but he did have a scratch on the back of here if he didn't have his jacket hanging the way he did he would have got big right this isn't the first time this has happened he's been looking for his dog he's been oh no no no no that's a gun that's a gun that's just me going on my kid he's just playing with the rocks i didn't want to play him the ropes that's about to come I go walk away to go get my other son. And if you're watching the back, you can see him let his dog out.

You got to watch real carefully. Let me zoom it in. Yeah, there's the dog right there. The owner comes. All right. They just let their pit bulls run loosely. All right. And my landlord has called land.

about last summer about a different incident and you can ask him I don't know exactly what happened but the dog actually came in the house and he called the police that was not the same dog I've had a dog come around the corner to try to attack me I didn't call the police because I'm like oh it's no big deal whatever when you're talking about my kids are sitting here on the property and these dogs are not being locked up or on the leash there's a problem and they're aggressive so the judge got to see that video and the other videos I've played for you and a detective revealed information that he learned about baby royal short life, starting with his birth.

And what did you learn, if anything, about the condition of this baby royal when born to the defendant with respect to any whether there were any drugs of abuse of the baby's system? Yes. So during my investigation, I obtained medical records for the day Royals treated and range in our hospital, included. in these medical records from the hospital, as is typical, it's a kind of patient's treatment history. In this case, it talks about prior immunizations, things like that, of the child.

Of note, it talks about the birth of the child, and then it's noted that there was, in fact, fetal drug exposure noted on October 24th to 23. It also notes neonatal abstinence syndrome, which, as you've already mentioned, I'm not a medical professional, but from the research I've done, that is essentially in common terms withdrawal from drugs. The baby. Correct. So baby Royal was born with drugs in his system.

That means his mom, Alyssa Smith, was using drugs during her pregnancy, most likely opioids. So he would have had to have withdrawn from those drugs at the hospital. Then the detective revealed other information about how Alyssa Smith violated the terms of her bail during this case. As part of your investigation, do you routinely monitor jail calls of defendants? Yes. Did you monitor the jail calls of the co-defendants in this case? I did.

Were there instances where this defendant, Alyssa Smith, was talking with her co-defendant, Blake Bates, on the jail calls? Numerous. And was there ever a time when they would speak in code? Yeah, pretty quickly. What's your claim? So, Ms. Smith, the defendant was used. being held on other charges outside this case as well and as there was all those charges there was a protection order in place between the two so it would have been unlawful for them to be

communicating so miss smith would speak with mr bates over jail calls using other people's phones and phone numbers and when i say they speak in code she would act as if she wasn't herself and would speak as if she was a friend of hers in the third person oftentimes and things like that. Were you able to figure out the code though? Yeah. Wasn't hard? No.

Have you observed all of the footage of the defendant both the day of the attack and then have you observed your other settings as well as you've been in this case? One of the factors the judge will have to consider is whether or not there's been genuine remorse. Have you seen anything in this case that would indicate to you as part of your investigation? that this defendant has shown genuine remorse prior to today and all of the evidence and personal interactions that I've had with the defendant I haven't seen her so much as cry prior to today. Now if all of this wasn't bad enough, it got much worse for Alyssa Smith. Her own sister got up and spoke asking the judge to give her more time than 90 days. I know this make a surprise

just not that I'm up here today, especially because I'm Elizabeth's sister. But I want to do. make sure someone was able to represent my sweet little boy and make sure that he gets just as he deserves. On April 28th, 2024, my entire world was flipped upside down. I got a call for my dad, and he asked if I was sitting down and if I was alone. I was a little confused, and I told him, yes, I was sitting and I'm not alone. He then broke the news to me that Royal had been attacked by Keel and that they were on the way to the hospital, but he was not sure how bad I was. I did immediately I had to go over there to see my baby. I hung up with my dad and then less than five minutes later, He called me back and told me that Royal did not make it.

I completely lost it. We all ran out to our cars and got over to the hospital as fast as we could. I got dropped off by my sister Autumn and immediately ran through the doors, tried to find him. I was distraught and having dribble breathing because I was crying so hard trying to find my little boy. When I heard the words he didn't make it, sis come out of my father's mouth, the piece of me broke and left. Aubrey Smith then described what her sister did the day that Royal died. I was still not 100% sure what had happened up to this point, but I knew that the baby that I looked at as my son had passed away

from a hundred percent avoidable incident. When Alyssa realized I was in the room was only crying, she started crying also. To me, it felt like she was only crying because she knew I was. When we were finally able to go back and see Royal to say our final goodbyes, they completely shattered me. I had to see my baby boy lying on a table with a tube down his throat, like bliss. When I previously the day before, saw him perfect.

happy and smiling at my softball games. Seeing him like that made me realize everything had become real, and it made me realize that the baby I looked at like my son was really actually gone. When we were in the hospital, Alyssa just kept talking about how she wanted to go get high instead of the fact that her son had just died. I've never been an addict or even tried any drugs, so I don't know how addict's minds worked. But I cannot wrap my head around the fact that she wanted to go get high more than she wanted to go see her son again.

when we left the hospital, she was more worried about being on her phone than anything else. Aubrey then goes into detail about her concerns for her niece, Royal's older sister. Alyssa lost her son that day, and I'm not saying that she's not completely mourning him, but I do think she's mourning him for the wrong reasons. She has everyone else fooled by what she posts on social media, but I have seen her actions and her true colors, and I know what she's truly doing. She has shown me time and time again. She's not reliable, and that she does not truly care about the safety of her children.

And this is fatally a huge example of that. If she truly cared about the safety of her children, she would have gotten her in the kilo the moment she knew that he had any aggressive behavior. Again, I'm not saying it was done on purpose, but it was 100% of it. Your Honor, I do not think 90 days is enough time in jail for Alyssa. She needs to understand the consequences of her actions.

I have no doubt she loves her, but I also do not think she is the best person to be around right now. I do not want my niece to grow up and be loved. to grow up and be like Alyssa. I have no doubt she loved Alyssa or loved Heaven and Royal, but she's a very selfish person and always puts herself before others and does not care about anyone else as long as she gives what she wants. Let's go back to the day that Royal died when the dog warden went to the hospital. Here's Alyssa Smith and Blake Bates. I had him on the couch and he just rode off the couch and I told my daughter to hurry up and grab him. I was trying

to like, because I thought I had the dresser pulled. And when I went to step, he was. got around me and I when I yelled he thought something was I guess I don't I don't know and I went to take him and that's he just got on okay so I'm not gonna make you fill out a bunch of information I just need one of you guys to sign the dog over and I'm taking it you guys I'm sure you don't want it back you know ashes or anything like that was my dog I already know you're gonna start hitting me now because it's my dog I just didn't want to sign it because it's I get it that's is there how many dogs are No.

There's four four. But we're trying to find the puppies. Come on. There we are. Come on. There we go. There we are. Then Elisa Smith

Then Alyssa Smith stood and explained her behavior. I was going to say is when everything happened, I was very, very in shock. I didn't know how to act. I didn't know how to go about it. And I still had to be okay for my daughter that witnessed it. Here recently, with everything going on, I have started reading. I have cried every night. Me and my daughter have cried.

I made sure she's got counseling, but as soon as everything happened, I made sure she was okay at first. When everything happened to, I couldn't grieve. I was the only one working. I had to make sure that we didn't lose the house, the car, anything. So I couldn't sit there and be depressed and cry and everything. While Blake was doing all that, I couldn't. Because if both of us broke, we wouldn't have anything, and then I would lose custody of my daughter again.

All I'm saying is I do take, I miss my boy every day. I cry every day. day. I miss him every day. And this is my first time ever being in trouble. And it's really, really took a toll on me. The judge then sentenced to Lissa Smith. And let's just say he didn't hold back. This court is not going to follow the joint sentencing recommendation.

While you're a lawyer, did great work to get you that sentencing recommendation. I also would let you know I wasn't very happy about the plea. While I was reluctant to accept the plea, I did accept that plea, which cut you in a significant advantage and risk so you need to remember that the court considers as part of this sentence the cases that were dismissed in the containment of damages that that allowed however the court specifically finds that you have no remorse for this or you at least shown no remorse you also violated your bond while you were on bond then you turn around and back out you were continuing your relationship with mr. Bates through surreptitious means

which demonstrate that you're not following court orders. And you can look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about, but you must not have heard the officer testify about you using phones and fake names to continue your communication. While you might have cut a deal at the last moment to cooperate in the state's case that was done, in my opinion, to save yourself and not for any other reason. The case did pen for quite some time. This case is quite old from the date of offense.

the consequence of this case is grave a child lost its life and we can't look at the fact that or ignore the fact that the ultimate consequence because of your reckless conduct

resulted in an unnecessary death I think it's very true to say that this is 100% avoidable and there's no way that this court is going to ignore the severity of this case and your failure to understand why we're here when your own family, and I'm not just talking about your

sister, everybody else here recognizes your failure to recognize this your conduct and your failure to understand the importance of pet ownership and more importantly, having a child in your duty to protect the child. And this court can come to no conclusion other than that a prison sentence is warranted in this case. If I could give you more than three years, you'd get more than three years at this point,

especially after the information that was presented here today. Court will impose a prison sentence of 36 months. You were now, what's subject to being sent to prison, once you complete your prison sentence, you're subject to what is known as post-release controls in this case. Alyssa Smith will spend two years on probation after she's released after serving three years in prison. The judge ordered that she cannot use drugs and she'll have to pay a fine.

She is now in the Marion County Jail and will be transferred to a prison sometime soon. Blake Bates will be sentenced later this month and given what happened with Alyssa Smith, Blake Bates could get a pretty hefty prison sentence. So stay tuned. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Janette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.