A toddler left unattended for more than two hours at an unlicensed daycare wandered into a backyard, opened a kennel, and was killed by two Rottweilers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why It Matters:<\/strong> Parents across Valdosta are now learning that the woman they may have trusted with their children was operating without a license \u2014 and that on October 4, that lack of oversight ended in a child’s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Happened:<\/strong> Valdosta Police, firefighters, and emergency medical workers arrived at a home on Pecan Drive just before 4 p.m. on October 4. The child was already dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The victim’s mother had dropped him off that morning at the home of 48-year-old Stacy Wheeler Cobb, who ran a daycare out of her residence without a license. Cobb told investigators she had been napping and assumed the child was asleep too. He wasn’t. For more than two hours, no one was watching him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At some point during that window, the toddler made it outside and into the backyard. There, he opened the kennel holding two large Rottweilers. The dogs attacked him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Charges:<\/strong> Cobb was arrested and taken to Lowndes County Jail. She faces second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children, both felonies. Detectives say more charges are expected as they continue processing evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Scope:<\/strong> According to police, the victim was the only child at Cobb’s home that day. But on most days, she cared for around 10 children. None of them were part of a licensed operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lowndes County Animal Control took custody of the two Rottweilers and a third dog found at the residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Comes Next:<\/strong> The investigation remains open. Detectives have not released the child’s name or additional details about the timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Quote:<\/strong> \u201cThis is a horrible and tragic event that should have never occurred, but because of negligence on this offender\u2019s behalf, a mother has tragically lost a child. I want to express our department\u2019s deepest sympathy to the family. No words will ever ease their pain, but our hearts go out to them during this unimaginably difficult time. I also keep our first responders in my prayers, as they continue processing their response to this tragic scene,\u201d said Chief Leslie Manahan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sources:<\/strong> Valdosta Police Department.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A toddler left unattended for more than two hours at an unlicensed daycare wandered into a backyard, opened a kennel, and was killed by two Rottweilers. Why It Matters: Parents across Valdosta are now learning that the woman they may have trusted with their children was operating without a license \u2014 and that on October […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":948,"featured_media":233895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"behind","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[16807,19352,19351],"class_list":["post-233894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-dog-attack","tag-rottweilers","tag-unlicensed-daycarre","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=233894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=233894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=233894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=233894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}