Pit Bull Ripped Toddler's Face Off, Parents Charged with Murder
00:00Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now.Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Anything illegal on you?I have some weed.Some weed.That's Jordan McGuire, being taken into custody after police say his pit bull killed his beautiful little girl.Is it for the animal girl?Is it for the other one?
00:23I go through this horrific case and why the DA says Lachlan's mom alsofaces a murder charge. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix.If you think the cases that I cover here on Crime Fix are scary, wait until you hear what'shappening with your personal data online. Your name, your phone number, even your address. It's allfloating around the internet for data brokers to sell or scammers to steal. Our sponsor,Incogni, lets you take back control. They findFind which data brokers have your info and demand they remove it.When I signed up, they actually found more than 50 brokers with my data.
01:08And within days, it started disappearing.Setup takes just minutes.Create an account authorizing Cogni to act for you and they do the rest.And with their new unlimited plans custom removals feature, you can submit custom linkswhere your data shows up and a team of privacy experts will remove it for you.So if you care about your online safety, and you really should, take your data back with Incogni, use code crime fix for 60% off an annual plan.Lockland McGuire was a beautiful two-year-old little girl. She should be getting ready for Christmas doing things like visiting Santa at the mall.But Lockland, she will never get to do anything like that because she was killed last month.
01:49Police say by the family's dog, this case is absolutely horrific.And sadly, it's not unlike other cases I've told you about here on crime fix in the past.I wish cases like this didn't happen.This case takes us to the northeast section of Oklahoma City.Oklahoma City Police were called to a home on 26th Street and what the officers foundwas startling to say the very least.An officer wrote in a report, on 1118, 2025, I responded to f*** in reference to DarcyLambert calling into dispatch stating that her two-year-old daughter, Victim One,
02:29Lachlan McGuire, was not breathing. Upon arrival, other officers had entered theresidence along with medical and located Victim One deceased on her bedroom floor.Both Darcy Lambert and Jordan McGuire were placed into patrol cars. Spring Lakesupervisors were notified and arrived on scene a short time later. Victim one was latertransported to the medical examiner's office. Now, it's highly unusual for a two-year-old to justdie. And that's not what happened here, according to police. Not at all. A probable cause affidavitgoes into more detail. It states, the call notes recorded the calling party saying, oh, it ate her.Officers arrived on scene and were met by defendant Darcy Lambert. Defendant Lambert is the
03:13biological mother of the victim. Defendant Lambert told the officer, my daughter got ate by thepit. The officer approached the front door and made contact with defendant Jordan Maguire. It was laterlearned that defendant McGuire is the biological father of the victim. Defendant McGuire instructed the officerto shoot the dog. There is no way that these officers were prepared for what they said they foundinside that house. No way. And I want to warn you, what they wrote in this document is incrediblydisturbing. The officer wrote, defendant McGuire stated, my daughter. The officer walked into thehallway, turned and observed a two-year-old female identified as victim, L.M. The victim had obvioussigns of death. The victim was missing pieces of her face and neck. Both of the victim's ears
04:03were severed from her skull and were scattered in the bedroom. The victim's hair was wrapped aroundher fingers, which appeared to be consistent with the struggle. The victim's right side of her face hadbeen removed from her ear to her cheek. The left side of her face had been torn off from her earto below her cheek line. There were clear puncture wounds to the back of the victim's neck thatappeared consistent with dog bites. There was what appeared to be blood on the walls, carpet,and the mattress in the victim's room. The victim was pronounced deceased on scene by medicalpersonnel. The Oklahoma County Animal Welfare Department removed four dogs from the home whereLambert and McGuire were living, and three of them appeared to be malnourished. And get this,
04:46police discovered that one of the dogs, a black pit bull named Ella, was so thin that herhip bones were showing through her skin, and she had blood on her paws and snout.Detectives took Darcy Lambert and Jordan McGuire down to the police station and both agreedto talk to them. The detective wrote in the affidavit, Defendant Lambert and DefendantMcGuire read the Miranda warning and both voluntarily agreed to speak to investigators withoutthe attorney present. After being read his rights, defendant McGuire stated, I just have a feeling.My gut is telling me, I'm going to jail. Defendant Lambert stated she was at work untilapproximately 2230 or 1030 that night. When she arrived at the residence, she let out one of the
05:32dogs. Defendant Lambert heard something like heavy slash labored breathing coming from the victim'sroom. She did not go to check on her. While in her bedroom, she heard some bouncing noises comingfrom the victim's room. She later went into the room and found the victim. So mom,Darcy Lambert, according to detectives, heard heavy breathing noises coming from her daughter'sbedroom and didn't check on her until she heard the bouncing noises. The interview of Lockland'sdad, Jordan McGuire, unfolded with him detailing to police how he put Ella the pit bullin the room with Lockland.The detective wrote. Defendant McGuire stated he put the victim to bed at approximately 1930 hours. The victim was put to bed by placing her in her room with Ella. The door to the room had toddler locks on each side of the door, which would have prevented the victim from leaving the room. Defendant McGuire stated he put her in the room with an old phone to watch until she fell asleep. The victim was given the phone because she would cry. The phone stopped her crying.
06:38McGuire took some medication and fell asleep. He woke up at approximately 2045 hours. He checked onthe victim and she was sleeping on the mattress with Ella at the end of the mattress. DefendantMcGuire was woken up by defendant Lambert when she found the victim. So that sounds likeeverything was fine, but it wasn't. Jordan McGuire, according to detectives, talked about howviolent Ella could be. The black pit bull, Ella, was kept inside of the room with the victim.Ella was not in a cage. Ella was kept in the room with the victim because she would fight the other dogs in the residence.Defendant McGuire stated Ella would fight the brown pit bull by always going in for the kill when asked about this.He explained the black pit bull would attempt to attack the brown pit bull's neck.
07:27So Lockland's dad put a dog known to go in for the kill alone in a bedroom with his young daughter.Unbelievable.And if you think it can't get worse, just wait for this part.The affidavit continues.On 116, 2025, the victim was attacked by the same black pit bull Ella and taken to OU Children's Hospital.The victim's left ear had been partially severed.The victim's right ear had sustained puncture wounds.Defendant Lambert admitted in her interview, she believed this initial attack had come from the pit bull
08:06Ella. She admitted the victim required plastic surgery to correct these injuries. Oklahoma'sDepartment of Human Services was contacted and an investigation was initiated. Oklahoma's Departmentof Human Services did not remove the victim from the residents. The opinion of the childprotection team at OU Children's Hospital was the injuries were caused by a dog bite. Neither Oklahoma Citynor Oklahoma County's Animal Welfare Department were notified of this incident.So days before, this dog Ella killed Lachlan. She had attacked her and nearly ripped off thegirl's left ear, and they still put the dog in the bedroom with her. The parents were initiallycharged with second-degree murder. The police wrote, defendant McGuire and defendant Lambert
08:56knowingly continued to confine this dog uncaged in the same room with the victim after the dogattack on 116, 2025.Subsequently, the pit bull Ella violently attacked the victim, causing her tosuccumb to the newly sustained injuries.Defendant McGuire and defendant Lambert knew Ella's susceptibility to violence towardthe victim.Jordan McGuire was taken into custody three days after Loughlin was killed.Anything illegal on you?
09:23I have some weed.Some weed.All right.Let's let's put up here.Okay.Where's the weed at?Was it in that bag?Yes, sir.
09:34I maybe have a lighter in that pocket or some tissue.There's nothing bad or illegal light.Okay.Oh, my purse.Okay.Oh, thank you.Hey, I'm going to switch out these handcuffs, okay?Oh, you're fine, just so they can get theirs back.
10:00Okay, he'll tell you all that.I haven't been resistant to go whatsoever.Is it for the animal grocery or is it for the other one?I'll talk about it here.Okay.I'm just, I don't know why.Can I leave that bag in here?I know I can't take it with me.
10:25Alright, I'm gonna pull these bottom tuffs off.Just bend over just a little bit.Can you put him in front so I can smoke quickly?Hold on.It's kind of hard to smell wouldn't mean back.Darcy Lambert and Jordan McGuire, they now face first-degree murder charges in Loughlin's death.District Attorney Vicki Bahena said in a statement, this is an unspeakably tragic case.Lambert and McGuire's complete disregard for the health, safety, and welfare of their child,
10:55and their failure to protect her despite knowing she was at risk led to her death.So I want to bring in somebody who knows all about prosecuting cases involving pit bulls who kill children.And it's unfortunate that he does know all about this.He is Mark Weaver.He's a prosecutor based in the state of Ohio.He also works sometimes as a judge.So Mark, the minute I learned about this case, I said, I have to call Mark Weaver because we just spent months and months and months talking about a very similar case in the state of Ohio that you prosecuted where a pit bull.murdered a baby so your thoughts upon reading this horrific affidavit thanks for having me back on
11:41what a tragic case every new fact i read was more troubling to me yes in the in the case that iprosecuted i prosecuted a mother and a father who would recklessly allow their infant boy six-monthbaby to be around a dangerous pit bull. Of course there were other pit bulls in the house and thatthat child was killed by the pit bull. That was very troubling. But this is far more troubling on severalbases. Number one, there was a previous attack. Every animal should have been out of that houseafter the previous attack on this child. Potentially the child should have been removed and the factthat that didn't happen means that the second defense,which is why this is probably being charged as a first-degree murder now,
12:31because the parents had plenty of notice that this dog was dangerous.There is so much wrong, according to the affidavit in this case.I mean, we had mom coming home from work,hearing bouncing and heavy breathing,coming from her daughter's room, and she did nothing.She did not go to check on her daughter.usually mom you would think mom comes home from work you'd open the door and poke your head inthere just to check anyway right you know your husband or your significant other the father of your
13:10child is asleep that's just kind of normal you open the doors and you peek in there just to checkbut even worse than that you mentioned the previous attack days earlier on november 6th this isNovember 18th, November 6th, Ella had ripped Laughlin's ear off nearly and she had to have itreattached with plastic surgery and they still let the dog sleep in the room with her. It'sunbelievable. Well, it's worse, right? Everything you said is true, but they locked the childin the room and their argument is to the police, well, if we had let the dog sleep somewhere else,he might have gotten in a fight with the other dogs.So we're going to put this aggressive, dangerous dog in with our two-year-old child,
14:00who the dog has already bitten.And we're not going to give the child an ability to escape the roombecause we're going to put a lock on the inside of the door.This is heinous.This is heinous.It's absolutely heinous.And how about like when your dog nearly rips off your child's ear?Maybe that's the point where you're like, God, maybe we need.
14:23to give up this dog and Jordan McGuire according to the detectives is talking about how Ellayou know this dog that's starving for whatever reason it's not being giving food is going in for thekill on the other dog so you've got a dog that's aggressive and you're putting it in a bedroomwith a two-year-old and then we've got the other issue like a huge red flag to me is the fact thatyou're even giving a two-year-old, a phone to help the two-year-old go to sleep.Phones don't help people go to sleep.The blue light, the light, it keeps people awake, it messes with their, you know,melatonin, the whole mess, you know, I could go into a whole thing about that.
15:10How about reading your child a book?I mean, there are so many red flags here that's just like bad parenting.Yeah, this is really the worst.of the worst parenting, short of the parents abusing the child themselves, which is probablythe absolute worst, the father thinks it's okay to give a two-year-old a phone. That's justbad parenting. That's just weak parenting. That's not a crime. Most of us who've done theresearch know you shouldn't have toddlers exposed to devices. That's fine. But the notion of,because the father wants to go take something he calls medication, be interested to find out what that
15:46is, he then locks the child in the room with the dog and a phone.as a babysitter, as a way to get to sleep, you made a good point that that's not going to work.So far, nothing potentially wrong illegal with a criminal law other than probably child endangering with the dog in there.But then he takes enough of his medication that he's out and will be unable to hear and listen for any problem with his child.So he has created the dangerous circumstance, taken the previously injured child who was certainly traumatized.We can't imagine what it would have like for that child to have had her head and her ear bitten by this dog and locked her in the room with the dog that attacked her.All of these things suggest really horrible parenting and now criminal actions and good on the local prosecutor for now bringing first-degree murder charges against both of these parents.So, Mark, the DA is furious, obviously in this case, sees that this was a great.
16:51grave, grave injustice that nobody was protecting Little Lachlan in her view. This was originallycharged as second-degree murder. Now it's been bumped up to first-degree murder. So what do youthink changed? You know, do you think the cops just were holding them on the second-degree murderand then the DA reviews the charges in the case? And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. This wasred flag city and so they're pursuing this is first degree murder it's pretty common forpolice to file what we call a holder charge something we know can be used to detain defendantsand then allow the prosecutor in this case the district attorney to make a final chargingdecision i think the the eventual indictment the one that will go to trial
17:43will feature lesser included charges you'll have the first degree murder chargesyou may have a second-degree murder, you have a child endangering, the DA will want to givethe jury as many options as possible to make sure these two parents go to prison for a verylong time. If you overcharge and don't give the jury any other options, there might be a fewpeople unwilling to think that this was an intentional act and you could get a hung jury.one thing that's kind of astonishing to me too is it almost seems as if the parents at leastJordan knew from his statements that what happened was really really really wrong he saysaccording to the detectives I have a feeling I'm going to jail when they're interviewing him like
18:38I'm going to jail he knows that what has happenedis very bad and that it's criminal.Yeah, these sound like low-functioning people,which is its own tragedy, I suppose,because as we speak,there are millions of children being raised by low-functioning peoplethat doesn't make them bad people.And most of, if, you know, not the big majority,
19:04can parent well.But it puts a lot of children at risk for peoplewho don't understand basic cause and effect.and so that's the best argument a defense lawyer could make is that well my client here is just not the swiftest parent and so didn't really think through that an emaciated pit bull that had previously attacked my child shouldn't be locked in a room with that child and then not checked on because the father's asleep with his medication and the mother's out working but doesn't check in on her daughter that's the best argument I think they can come up with this.is that somehow these are low-functioning parents?There appear to also be some failures that the police,it's almost like they wanted this information out there,that the Department of Human Services was aware of what happened.
19:57They were notified when Lachlan was taken to the hospital in early Novemberwhen her ear was nearly ripped off and she had to have it repaired by plastic surgery.But nobody notified the animal was.welfare department. Nobody notified the police department that a child's ear was nearly ripped offby a dog. And so it sounds like the police are essentially saying in their affidavit, you know,read between the lines here. Had we known, had the animal welfare people known that this happened,maybe the dogs wouldn't have been there. And maybe the cops would have ordered these dogs removed.maybe the parents would have been cited for something, I don't know.
20:45This could have been prevented.Yeah, doctors are mandatory reporters for child sex abuse.I don't know the law in Oklahoma about whether they're mandatory reporters for just physical abuse.But I'd like to think that a prudent doctor in an ER or even a plastic surgeon, the first question to ask is, what happened to the year?They need to know that to help treat.And so if the answer is, our dog bit it, I think a prudent doctor has a raised eyebrow andthinks, hmm, perhaps I should alert the child welfare authorities to make sure that this childis being protected.
21:24So we don't know what happened.It's worth finding out.And if there is liability, they are either through the professional licensure of theseprofessionals or through some civil suit by some other family member who wants to bring a civilaction on behalf of this sadly killed child. I think there's probably more to come in this case,even above and beyond these two criminal cases. Yeah, definite, there were failures across the boardhere, it appears, on several levels. First, with the parenting, with the, what happened at thehospital when her ear was repaired, the fact that police and the animal welfare, people were not
22:06notified. It seems to me that somebody should have notified the animal welfare people at leastthat a dog nearly ripped off a child deer. That's not a dog bite. That's like a dog attack.So we'll keep an eye on this to see what happens. That poor little girl, Mark Weaver,thank you so much. Thank you. Very sad case. Darcy Lambert and Jordan McGuire remain in theOklahoma County Jail, each are being held on a $1 million bond. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix.me and Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.
There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click any sentence in the transcript to leave one.