Charges filed

[RJK890]

http://news.aol.com/article/two-charged-in-python-strangling-death/637495

(Aug. 24) - A Florida woman and her boyfriend have been charged with third-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, who was strangled by a pet python.
Jaren Ashley Hare, 19, was charged with third-degree murder, manslaughter and child abuse in the death of her daughter, Shaiunna Hare, the Orlando Sentinel reported Monday.
Hare's live-in boyfriend, Charles Jason Darnell, 32, faces the same charges, the newspaper said, citing the Sumter County sheriff's department.
Shaiunna was killed July 1 by an 8 ½-foot Burmese albino python that had escaped from its glass tank in the Oxford home. The snake was found curled around the toddler's body. Wildlife officials removed the python.
In a call to 911, a sobbing Darnell said: "The baby's dead! Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby.”
An autopsy determined Shaiunna had died of asphyxiation, but there were several bite marks on her body as well, WKMG-TV in Orlando reported.
Officials said Darnell, who owned the snake, did not have a permit to keep the python as a pet. They also said the snake was not properly secured.
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia. Florida has seen species’ population explode as snake owners dump their pets in the Everglades, where they pythons have flourished and reproduced.

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[Tiger Lilly]

Here's another version, with a little different info:

By JOHN FRANK
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
Published: Monday, August 24, 2009 at 12:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 4:16 a.m.

OXFORD | Authorities on Monday afternoon arrested the mother of a 2-year-old Sumter County girl who was strangled to death in July by a 9-foot Burmese python, charging her and her boyfriend with third-degree murder, manslaughter of a child and felony child neglect.

Contrary to prior reports, the arrest affidavits state the snake was owned by the girl's mother, 19-year-old Jaren Hare, not her live-in boyfriend, Charles Darnell.

Darnell awoke July 1 to find the pet missing. He found it in Shaiunna Hare's room, on top of her.

Darnell, who is not Shaiunna's father, freed the girl by stabbing the snake with a 6-inch knife and a meat cleaver.

Injured, the snake released the child and slithered away inside the home.

In a call to 911 about 9:40 a.m. July 1, an unidentified man sobs as he tells the operator what happened.

"The baby's dead," he says. "Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby."

A medical examiner's report concluded Shaiunna Hare died of asphyxiation.

At the time of Monday's arrest, Darnell was in custody on a drug charge.

At 5 p.m., the Sumter County Sheriff's Office was in the process of arresting Jaren Hare, a spokesman said.

Interviews with family members and friends revealed the snake was not kept in a secure enclosure, as mandated, and repeatedly escaped prior to the girl's death.

Friends of the family even offered to keep the snake locked in a cage, but the mother and boyfriend declined.

"It's just a tragic set of circumstances that due to the reckless conduct on behalf of adults, a small child lost her life," said Assistant State Attorney Peter Magrino, a homicide prosecutor.

This story appeared in print on page B5

and a photo of the grieving couple (if they attempt to buy more snakes, please reconsider selling to them):

 

[AbsoluteApril]

thank you both for posting the updates