The Misery Machine - The Story of Logan Gammage: Dad Preys on Teen Girls, Puppies, Then His Own Son

Starting point is 00:00:00 Odessa, located in an area known as the armpit of Texas. It's home to oil rigs, an eight-foot sculpture known as Jack Ben Rabbit, and this man would have warrant out for his arrest for years, involving a charge with a teen girl. And police did nothing about it. During this past summer, police in action led to an absolutely senseless crime involving multiple innocent lives. And even worse, this was completely...

Starting point is 00:00:30 preventable. But was this man the only person responsible for the death of a young baby? This is the story of Logan Gammage. On July 12th, 2022 at approximately 1252 in the afternoon, officers with the Odessa Police Department were dispatched in reference to a medical call at Brady Station Apartments located at 421 East 52nd Street. Dispatch advised the responding officer that an infant was inside the apartment, responsive and not breathing. Upon arrival, officers observed a deceased eight-month-old inside apartment 721, identified as Logan Damage. Logan had heavy bruising and swelling to the left side of his face, as well as multiple smaller bruises along the top of his head. The infant's mother

Starting point is 00:01:33 was identified as 18-year-old Lela Pearson, and the father was identified as 23-year-old Cameron Gamage. According to Cameron, he woke that day around noon to Lela telling him that Logan was not breathing. Cameron reported that he called 911 and began CPR per the dispatcher's instructions. When asked about the bruising, Cameron claimed it was from Logan hitting his head on the hard portion of the interior of his crib. Cameron stated that he last saw his infant son at around 5.30 or 6 in the morning. The father remained unemotional and seemed to lack care about the incident throughout his interaction with the officers. According to Layla, she fed Logan around 5 in the morning, after which she went back to sleep and woke around noon, which is when she found her baby

Starting point is 00:02:17 unresponsive. Frantic, she woke her boyfriend up so he could help her, and allegedly, Cameron didn't seem to care at all. According to Layla, Cameron took several minutes to get up. It apparently wasn't a big deal to him that his eight-month-old son was not breathing. Allegedly, Cameron asked Layla what he should do. It didn't occur to him that he should pick up the phone and immediately dial 911. According to Layla, Cameron became apologetic to her and told her that he hoped that she wasn't mad at him. Officers arrived at around 12.52 p.m. However, between then and the time Logan was discovered, Cameron and Lela had other priorities. According to first responders, the interior of the apartment was a mess with trash and other belongings scattered throughout and what appeared to be dog waste all over the floor.

Starting point is 00:03:07 both Cameron and Layla admitted to cleaning up some of the mess prior to law enforcement arriving. However, there were no dogs found in this apartment. This is a true crime channel, so it's obvious that we're going to be talking about sensitive and shocking topics. Chances are you didn't accidentally find yourself here, so you have a basic idea what we discuss. However, since this is something that's been requested constantly when this topic arises, here is your warning. For the next few minutes, we're going to be discussing what occurred with the two dogs that resided with an apartment 721. According to Layla, Cameron had extreme anger issues and lashed out frequently.

Starting point is 00:03:48 According to the affidavit filed by the Odessa Police Department, Cameron had recently killed several dogs via strangulation. Cameron openly admitted this to officers. According to Cameron, he had been dealing with a lot of stresses of late, which included his infant son, Logan's crew. apparently, the 23-year-old couldn't handle his alleged stress of being a father and decide to take his frustrations out on his defenseless pets. He admitted that he recently strangled two dogs to death and attempted to dispose of their bodies to avoid getting into trouble. We've done a fair bit of digging, and it's unclear as to whether or not the bodies of the dogs

Starting point is 00:04:24 were ever recovered as evidence. However, both Layla and Cameron's social media accounts are still active, and in fact, Cameron's the type of guy that has several accounts for no reason. It appears the couple had a small black puppy and an older Dotson. Now, this is not to discount the fact that an eight-month-old baby just died. Kids, the elderly, folks with disabilities, and animals are all vulnerable to mistreatment and awareness surrounding that needs to be raised. As you'll learn later on in this episode, all of these deaths could have been prevented.

Starting point is 00:04:55 And this wasn't even Cameron's first brush with the law. Now, according to the Andrews County News, he was indicted on an essay charge involving a 15-year-old girl in May of 2019, Annie had a warrant out for his arrest. According to official sources, this initially occurred between 2019 and 2020. The source obviously doesn't state who this 15-year-old girl is,

Starting point is 00:05:17 but according to their social media accounts, Cameron, who was currently 23, and Layla, who was currently 18, have been together for some time. According to other official news sources, Cameron's cousin, Britney Pruitt, confirmed that the essay charge stemmed from his involvement

Starting point is 00:05:32 with Layla as a minor. Social media accounts can say a lot. And although it's not an official source, comments listed on Layla's Facebook page indicated that her parents might have been the ones that pressed charges against Cameron. Regardless, police never sought Cameron out for this warrant. It was not even called the question

Starting point is 00:05:51 until officers arrived regarding the call for baby Logan. Additionally, Cameron was arrested on December 26, 2019 for possession of weed, as well as driving under the influence with a minor. Layla and Cameron were both transported to the Odessa Police Department where they were interviewed further, at which time they were both read their Miranda rights and both chose to waive those rights.

Starting point is 00:06:14 Cameron further admitted that he frequently smoked his substance of choice to help him stay calm. He reported that on Saturday, July 9th, he and Layla both smoked and Layla laid down for a nap in the living room at around 10 p.m. Cameron reported that Logan, who was in their bedroom, started crying, so he went to try to play with the baby to get him to quiet down. Allegedly, Cameron began tossing Logan in the air and catching him.

Starting point is 00:06:40 He reported that he was frustrated and that his son would not stop crying. Cameron claimed that he accidentally dropped Logan after about the fourth toss, which caused him to land on his left side. Cameron reported that his baby hit the floor hard when he landed, and that the bruising and swelling on his face and head began after that. Dan after that, but he didn't want to tell Layla in fear of getting in trouble. Cameron reported that Logan began acting unusual over the next couple of days. He saw him dead that morning.

Starting point is 00:07:11 His initial thought was something to the effect that he killed his kid. However, the injuries that Little Logan sustained could not have been suffered by simply falling on the ground. According to the indictment, Cameron repeatedly struck Logan, choked him, and broke his hyoid bone. The hyoid bone is located in the front of the neck, just below the lower jaw, which carries the weight of the tongue and plays a vital role in speech and swallowing. A hyoid bone fracture may lead to laryngeal and pharyngeal lacerations, which could cause the surrounding tissue to swell and compromise breathing. Layla confirmed that she and Cameron did smoke that Saturday evening and that she did lay down for a nap afterwards.

Starting point is 00:07:54 She said that when she woke up and checked on Logan, she saw the bruising on his face. and asked Cameron about it. Layla alleged that Cameron told her that he probably hit his head on a hard part of the crib. Layla took him at his word and said they did not seek medical attention for the bruising, and that Logan became more fussy over the next couple of days, but she thought it was because he was teething. Cameron Gamage was placed under arrest and charged with injury to a minor,

Starting point is 00:08:20 elderly individual or disabled individual causing serious bodily injury. That is the official name of the charge and is a first-degree felony in Texas. The charges stemmed from the father causing serious bodily harm to Logan and intentionally neglecting to seek medical attention for three days which resulted in his death. Those charges were later upgraded to Capitol homicide. Additionally, one month after Logan's death, Cameron tried to convince a woman to either withhold her testimony or provide false testimony as to his whereabouts on the date of Logan's death. Layla Pearson was placed under arrest and also charged with injury to a minor elderly individual or disabled individual causing serious bodily injury, as well as criminal negligence,

Starting point is 00:09:04 which is a state jail felony in Texas. Now, we've never heard of a state jail felony prior to this. So according to the Texas Penal Code, quote, a state jail felony carries the felony label, but doesn't result in prison time. An individual adjudged guilty of a state jail felony shall be punished by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years, or 180 days. In addition to confinement, a state jail felony may be punished by a fine not to exceed $10,000, end quote. Layla's charge stem from knowing about the bodily injury to Logan and neglecting to seek medical attention for three days resulting in his death.

Starting point is 00:09:47 Different news sources have conflicting information regarding the bond set for the two parents. Cameron's bond has been listed between $350,000 to a whopping $1.5.5. million dollars. Layla's was initially set at $100,000 and she actually managed to post it, which would explain why she was posting on social media after Logan's death. However, news sources indicate that she was later re-arrested on charges related to the incident and is now being held in lieu of $200,000. Things in this case thankfully moved a lot quicker than we see in most cases, where the accused end up sitting in county jail awaiting trial with no resolution in sight. Just this month, Cameron Gamage entered a plea of guilty for capital homicide and received life in prison plus 20 years, which is supposed to run concurrently.

Starting point is 00:10:36 Layla is currently being held at the Ector County Detention Center. We'll be on the lookout for updates as they become available as it pertains to her case. Now, we've got a lot to unpack here. As we mentioned before, all of this could have been prevented. The deaths of Logan, the Black Puppy, the Dotson, all of it. A warrant was put out for Cameron's arrest in May of 2019 for the alleged essay charge involving Layla. He was arrested in December of the same year for possession and driving under the influence. However, the outstanding warrant was never addressed.

Starting point is 00:11:09 It was not until he was arrested for Logan's death that police did anything in regards to that warrant of 2019. He was not even charged for animal cruelty. Now what about Layla's parents? If they were indeed the ones that pressed charges against him, Cameron for being involved with their underage daughter. Why didn't they do more to keep the two apart? The two had clearly been living with one another in an apartment, so why not calling the warrant? So much could have been done before their 18-year-old daughter had a baby, one that she clearly was not equipped to care for. Now, this is no shame to teen moms. My own mom was Layla's age when

Starting point is 00:11:45 she had me. But it's quite obvious that based on her actions or rather inaction, that she wasn't ready to be a mom. Now, what about the incident with not one, but two dogs? The two were actually killed in separate incidents. One would think that after the first incident, you would take your remaining dog and your son and leave, right? Despite everything he did, we can say that Cameron did one thing right. He immediately pled guilty for what he did, taking his life sentence without any complaint. Now, this won't bring baby Logan back, but at least we can say that the wrong. right person will be behind bars for the rest of his life. The real question here is Layla.

Starting point is 00:12:28 What is Layla's level of responsibility here? It's not a crazy thing to suggest that she could have been groomed from a young age given Cameron's charges. While she's a legal adult now, we've seen some people give theories that maybe Layla was trapped in a horrific relationship where she was being attacked herself. Unfortunately, we don't have enough information to give a concrete statement. Do you feel Layla was directly involved in the killing of Lotho? and do you feel her charges are appropriate? Let us know in the comments down below.

The Misery Machine - The Story of Logan Gammage: Dad Preys on Teen Girls, Puppies, Then His Own Son

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