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Killer python owner: 'It was a terrible, awful accident'
In his first interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Charles Darnell said he has been stricken by grief in the month since the family's pet Burmese python suffocated his girlfriend's 2-year-daughter in her crib in a rural community about 60 miles northwest of Orlando.
Anthony Colarossi
Sentinel Staff Writer
6:41 PM EDT, July 31, 2009
Almost a month ago, a pet Burmese python escaped from its enclosure in a rural Sumter County home and suffocated 2-year-old Shaiunna Hare as she slept in her crib.
The attack made international headlines and became a convenient tragedy for politicians and bureaucrats to use as they called for organized hunts of wild Burmese.
But for Charles Darnell and his girlfriend Jaren A. Hare, the loss was indescribable.
The last month left them mourning a child they loved, questioning themselves for becoming so trusting of the snake and worrying if criminal charges will come.
Darnell, 32, spoke Friday in his first interview with the Orlando Sentinel.
He said the child's death has altered his life forever and made him a "monster" in the eyes of many around the world and in his tiny town Oxford, 60 miles northwest of Orlando.
"It was an accident. It was a terrible, awful accident," said Darnell, vacillating between shouts and sobs.
"It's not guilt," Darnell said of the way he feels today. "It's remorse and grief. I'll never have another one [a snake]."
His comments came a day after prosecutors said they needed more time to investigate the case to determine if Darnell or Hare ought to face criminal charges.
Darnell does not claim to be a snake expert, but he said he has been around the reptiles much of his life.
He cannot describe the attraction to boa constrictors and Burmese, except to say, "Some people are bird people. Some people are cat people. And some people are snake people."
The Burmese suspected in the child's death became a pet about nine years ago.
And Darnell said he took good care of the animal, but also said he thought the 8 1/2-foot female was instinctively moving around when it escaped because it was reaching its sexual maturity.
And he suspects that is why the snake was so determined to escape its 150-gallon aquarium.
"She had got out the night before," he said, referring to the hours before the attack. "I woke up, went to the bathroom and found her in the hallway. That's when I put her in the laundry bag and put her back in the tank."
Darnell said he pulled a quilt down tight over the top of the tank and then used safety pins and bungee cords to secure the top. "I don't know how she got out," he said.
Snake experts such as Andrew Wyatt, president of the United States Association of Reptile Keepers, question Darnell's story, particularly the part about the snake reaching sexual maturity.
A Burmese that old weighing 12.3 pounds had to be "emaciated," he said.
"That animal was not sexually mature. That animal was undernourished,'' Wyatt said.
In any case, Darnell acknowledges it was a "mistake" for them not to be afraid enough of the snake, although he said he always took "extra precautions" with the Burmese, especially when children were nearby.
He also supports the ongoing state and federal efforts to capture and euthanize wild Burmese in South Florida because the top predators threaten native wildlife there and reproduce so successfully.
"I've said for a long time that they need to get them out of there," he said.
As for pet behavior, Darnell said: "Any animal at any time can turn on you for any reason."
Darnell said it has been difficult for him to do simple things in public, like grocery shopping, because of all the notoriety surrounding the case.
State wildlife officials said the snake's owner could face a second-class-misdemeanor charge because no one held a license for the python.
The misdemeanor charge could be punishable up to a $500 fine and 60 days in jail.
On Friday Darnell said, "The snakes were bought back in 2000 when the laws and permits did not exist."
The Burmese pythons were not regulated for permitting back then. But Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said as of Jan. 1, 2008, Burmese python owners had six months to get the required permitting and microchips for the snakes.
While the case involves prosecutors and wildlife officials, the state Department of Children and Families also continues to investigate allegations of inadequate supervision and maltreatment in the death of the child and threatened harm and inadequate supervision involving two other children in the home when the attack occurred.
"This agency was contacted to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of" the girl, DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner said in a statement.
"The current investigation is primarily focused on her death. It expands to include whether or not the other children, who were in the home that night, were also placed in any harms way; intentional or not."
Darnell said the DCF involvement has added stress and hassle in the aftermath of the tragedy.
"They've been harassing me," he said. "We lost our child and now we're dealing with that."
The inquiries come at a sensitive time. A girl is dead. Hare is expected to give birth to Darnell's child very soon. And Darnell still struggles with the death of his son due to an illness several years ago.
Shortly before the July 1 incident, DCF had investigated Darnell for neglect of a child and child abuse. That case involved alleged drug use and dealing, but it was ultimately unfounded.
DCF did not find enough risk to take children from the home.
Darnell said the caseworker who initially investigated the unfounded case commented on the snakes.
"He was impressed by how well the snakes were kept," he said. "He talked about the snakes to us. He thought it was neat that we had them and kept them."
Darnell said the original DCF case was prompted by an upset relative who made false claims, but now he worries that the new probe could affect his relationship with Hare and their unborn child.
He has experienced terrible loss before.
His young son died in 2003 due to a rare disease. He spent days in the hospital with the boy, who was almost 3.
And today Darnell can't help but remember that experience when he thinks of the morning one month ago when he found the Burmese wrapped around young Shaiunna.
"How do you deal with losing a child? I don't wish that on anybody," he said. "You don't deal with it, man. You don't deal with it. You grieve, but you never get over losing a child. When your child dies it take a piece of you, too."
Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel
