Dog attacks often happen due to owners not properly training or containing their animals. Sometimes, they're a result of malicious provocation. But to think someone would order their dog to attack a child is unthinkable.
Tragically, that's what allegedly happened in the case of a 9-year-old girl's death in June 2024. A Florida woman now faces murder charges after allegedly commanding her Rottweiler to harm the child. And reportedly, the family's security camera caught the horrifying attack on video.
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On June 17, the Lake County Sheriff's Office received a call after 9-year-old Jamaria Sessions was found unresponsive in her Monteverde, Florida, home, WESH 2 reported. Jamaria lived with her stepmother, Tyshael Elise Martin, 36, and was found with "numerous abrasions, bruises, burns and possible bite marks." She was pronounced dead shortly after first responders arrived.
Martin told deputies that she woke up that morning for a family vacation to California, per an affidavit obtained by WESH 2. When Martin went to wake Jamaria and other children in the home, she allegedly found the 9-year-old unresponsive and cold. The medical examiner’s preliminary findings found the child's injuries consistent with abuse, prompting the sheriff's office to carry out a search warrant, WSAZ 4 reported.
On June 15, a Rottweiler attacked and killed Jamaria in Montverde, Florida. Investigators obtained video footage of the incident, and an arrest affidavit obtained by People detailed how it unfolded. Martin was allegedly "seen holding the leash of the dog," and encouraging it to bite her stepdaughter, Jamaria, as she lay on the floor.
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Allegedly, Martin kicked Jamaria to the ground and "grabbed the child by her hair, pulling her" to a staircase. The suspect allegedly "repeatedly" struck and shook her, according to the affidavits' description. "I’m fixin' to kill her," Martin said, according to the transcription provided by investigators.
On August 28, Martin was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and child neglect, per the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. Jamaria's father, LoJuan Sessions, was also arrested. He was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
