Law&Crime Sidebar - Deputies Corner Killer Dogs That Mauled 8-Year-Old

Episode Date: January 18, 2025

8-year-old Michael Millett was killed by two dogs during a violent attack on Monday in Volusia County, Florida. Michael had reportedly seen the dogs while on a bike ride and tried to pet them. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber sat down with Sheriff Michael Chitwood to get the latest information on the case.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If your child, under 21, has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit https://forthepeople.com/food to start a claim now! HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY 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.

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keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. He was screaming for help and I've pinned him down on the ground and they're like biting him but he's not moving and he's not responding. I can tell you in all my years of policing to listen to that 911 call. and hear Michael's mother in the background when she dove on top of him to stop the attack, screaming, somebody helped me, my child's not breathing. It strikes to the core of who we are as human beings.

An eight-year-old Florida boy is dead, viciously mauled by two dogs that he'd stopped a pet while just on a bike ride with a friend. And as his family tries to come to grips with this shocking death, officials are pushing for the dogs to be euthanized and their owner charged. We were going to get into the very latest on this very, very, very big. sad investigation. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Hey everybody, this is a law and crime legal alert. Did you know that children are being diagnosed with serious conditions like type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease? And the research

is potentially linking ultra-processed foods to this? Yeah, well, Morgan and Morgan is stepping in to fight to hold these food companies accountable. With decades of experience fighting large corporations, they are ready to stand up for what families deserve. justice. So if your child under 21 has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, then visit www.4thepeople.com slash food to learn more. Michael Millett's family members have described this eight-year-old boy as smart, funny, caring, loving, and adventurous. They say his laugh was contagious, that he had this light that is going to be missed tremendously. Michael died Monday, January 13th, after he stopped.

to pet two dogs in his neighborhood and that is when they attacked him. Our victim, Michael Millett, eight years old, was out on his bike with one of his friends and at the entrance to their subdivision. He stops and goes to pet one of these dogs that's out there and at that point Michael is maliciously mauled, brutally mauled and killed at the scene. This is an incredibly difficult story to talk about. and hearing what a witness told dispatchers in a 911 phone call, it's heartbreaking. 911, what's the address to your emergency? Yes, ma'am, it's a very rich home development.

There's a little bit of boy being attacked by two dogs. Okay, where at? Um, my address is... Um, Arabas Drive. Okay. Are they in front of your house? No, and I can't go near him because... Listen, I'm not asking you to.

So which way is it from your house to where he's at? Is it the mailboxes when he first comes in? And do you know his name? Michael. Come in off of where? Where is it moving? Oh, my God, please hurry. Listen to me.

Listen, where are the mailboxes at? Right when you first come in, the development of Barry. From where? From where? From where? Off highway 15A. Okay, so what is it? Aborick at airport?

Is that where they're out? Yes, yes. Okay. Yes, out by airport road. Okay. How old is he look? How old is he? This boy is being attacked by a dog.

The only other option I have is to go get my gun. At times, on the 911 call, you can hear Michael's mom shrieking for help. help, the boy's friend crying to the caller, traumatized by what he is seeing happen. He was screaming for help and I pinned him down on the ground and they're like biting him, but he's not moving and he's not responding. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office says that the dogs were just roaming free in the neighborhood. They were around a half a mile away from their home when they encountered the boys on the bikes. And one was later described by officials as a pit bull.

The other is a mixed breed. The witness who called 911 told the dispatcher that she'd gotten her gun and would use it if she had to. Now there was this deputy yet. You're just watching saying that she can't get close without having a firearm. You want me to have rescue starts that way based on the note? Yes. Now there was this deputy who spotted the dogs near the scene, followed them, kept his distance, wanted them in his sights, and law enforcement was eventually able to close a gate at the dog owner's property, but pointed out that that entire yard wasn't fenced so the dogs could still get out. Get back in your f***ing yard.

Get back in there. Get back. Get back. Even though that's not fenced, and they can make it through this, so keep that in mind. Hey, back up. Hey, Graham. Hey. We can block this in.

It's open. On the other side of the trubs, it's all open. open to the truck. Can't have him get inside the house until we get him actually go. Hey, either hopping the truck or go inside that house, one or the other. Animal control, they were able to get the dog secured. According to the animal services director, one dog of pit bull was easy to coerce into the restraint. They had to chase the other one around the yard for around an hour before they had

control of it. So actually, it was the deputies that chased the dog back to the property. So these dogs reacted to their presence and went back to the property upon our arrival. They had actually already closed the gate. The deputies did, but that gate was open upon their arrival. So they entered that property. The property is not fully fenced. They had the ability to get out of that property, but we're very experienced in what we do. And we do it. it quickly and we do it safely to assure the public safety. And we were able to confiscate and hold the animals in a humane manner. Now, there is a mandatory 10-day quarantine for the two dogs. And so far, the owner hasn't given permission for them to be euthanized. But animal services

says at the end of that 10-day period, if the woman hasn't gotten in touch with them, those dogs will be put down. Now, Sheriff Michael Chipwood identified the dog's owner as a woman with a long criminal history that includes possession of meth and assault. But it was noted during the news conference that there hadn't been any calls to 911 or animal control about these dogs roaming around or any incidents reported at that address. But when they went door to door, people had horror stories about these particular animals terrorizing their neighborhood, which again reinforces the idea if you see something, say something, report it. All right. And we are joined actually right now by Sheriff Michael Chitwood from Volusia County,

Florida. Thanks so much for coming on. Thank you for the work that you and your team do day in day out. Talk to me about this owner. I mentioned a little bit about the history. Who is this person? And are there any charges against the owner at this point in time? Yeah, thank you for having me. Right now, we're working with our detectives and the state attorney's office to see what type of charges we will be able to bring. As I speak to you tonight, the dogs are still in quarantine. The dog owner has 10 days to respond to animal control. I think we're on she has seven more days left. At the end of 10 days, if she doesn't respond, the animals will be turned over that will be legally turned over to animal control where they will be destroyed if she does respond she can request a hearing to go in front of a judge to say why these dogs should not be destroyed the investigation is posing several legal hurdles for us to clear under florida statute there's two statutes that deal with this type of incident if the there is prior documentation of violent acts and attacks by the dogs it's a felony a third degree if there are no previous report

courts. It's a misdemeanor of the second degree. So we're still working through everything with the state attorney. But either way, at the end of this, I think it's my job to lobby the legislature to make parity in that law because what happened to Michael was just horrific. It was horrific. And it sounded like it was avoidable in the sense that there were people right in that neighborhood that knew about these dogs and the trouble that these dogs caused, right? That's exactly right. That's exactly what we're hearing after the fact that the dogs killed so-and-so's chickens, that the dogs chased kids, that the dogs, you know, people were afraid to go out when the dogs were around the dogs weren't fenced in the property's not fenced in uh so the dogs

had free room in the neighborhood and as far as the dog owner uh i wouldn't classify her as getting an award from the boy scouts or girl scouts anytime soon she's been arrested for uh aggravated battery with the intent to kill aggravated battery with a deadly weapon domestic violence drug possession. Currently, she is on active probation from the court. I guess you would call it. She has to supply weekly urinalysis there. And I think she's a cold callous individual that she has refused to cooperate in any way, refused to acknowledge the death of Michael, but I'm not surprised. That is incredibly alarming and disturbing to hear on so many different levels. Talk to me about, I understand there's a bite mark expert that you might be calling in or have called him. Talk to us about that.

Yeah, Animal Control reached out to a gentleman out of Tallahassee out of, I'm sorry, Jacksonville, who has worked with our medical examiner before and he studies these fatal dog attacks and the bite wounds that go with that. And I went to the autopsy and I watched what they were doing how you could match the bites to each dog because one dog clearly was bigger and some of the wounds to Michael you can see and some of them were smaller and you could clearly see. the distinctness in that but like I said I've been I've been in policing I'm approaching 38 years and and the horrific devastation it was done to Michael I mean his neck was broken during this attack it was just it was just something you didn't want to see but you had to see it you had to understand what happened and to Michael's mom you know his mom runs out during the attack and dives on him to stop the attack and the dogs do stop they stand there and watch her and there's a

911 caller describing what was going on. And you could hear in the background the pleas from Michael's mother, somebody, please help me. My son's not breathing. It just touches your soul. If you have any humanity in you to hear a mother fighting for her son's life like that and knowing that she's losing, it's just something that stays with you for the rest of your life. I was going to ask you how the family's doing. And also Michael's friend who was with him as well.

Yeah, you know, the family is really trying to stay low-key right now. I mean, I know they really haven't done too much media. There's a service for Michael on January 22nd here in Volusia County, and the first part of that service is going to be private. I think it's kind of hard to digest that your child goes out on a bike ride in your neighborhood with his friend and your neighbor's dogs maul him to death. I just to wrap their brain around, for any of us, it's so senseless and so preventable. it's just hard to fathom that.

And how is his friend doing? Because to be a witness to that is, it's unthinkable. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. We haven't had much contact with the family other than Michael's dad had been emailing me back and forth. And we've offered all the services in the world. We're just, I'm just staying away and whatever they need. They know how to reach out because I don't know as a father and a grandfather,

how would I handle this? But just let them know that there are resources there. there are people there that are more than willing to help and I'm sure they're they're taking advantage of that our hearts and our prayers are going out to that family and everybody who's been affected by this this is a horrible horrible situation and sheriff i'm so sorry you had to you know be present for the autopsy i know that can't that probably wasn't easy um but listen thank you so much we're seeing you the best of luck in the investigation we'll keep a careful eye on how this progresses uh sheriff michael chitwood thanks so much for taking the time

appreciate it as always thank you for the time and thank you for covering this horrific story Now, before we finish things up, one more thing I have to tell you. The family members, they set up a go-fund me to raise money for the funeral services is to help Michael's family. And as a Friday morning, more than $78,000 has been raised. We're going to put it up there in case you're interested in helping. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us.

And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.