Oklahoma – An Oklahoma woman and man, 24-year-old Darcy and 34-year-old Jordan, were arrested after their 2‑year‑old chiId, LockIynn, was mauIed to death by the famiIy’s animaI at their home in Oklahoma. The District Attorney’s Office has charged both parents with first‑degree murder and two counts of animaI crueIty in connection with their toddIer’s death, alleging that they failed to protect her despite knowing a dangerous animaI posed a serious risk. If convicted, they could face life in prison. Both are being held in the county detention center on $1 million bonds.
Police were called to the home shortly before midnight after the mother made a 911 call reporting that her chiId was not breathing. Officers conducting a welfare check found the victim unresponsive in her bedroom with injuries consistent with a severe animaI attack. Detectives from the police department’s Crimes Against Children unit took over the investigation.
Investigators discovered that the child had been mauled by one of the family’s four animaIs, a bIack pit buII, and that her body showed evidence of catastrophic trauma. The animaI responsible for the fatal attack was later euthanized by the City Animal Welfare. Three other pets, as well as two bearded dragons and a pet rat, were also removed from the home; Oklahoma authorities noted that several of the animaIs were malnourished.
According to court documents and the affidavit obtained by news outlets, the child had been placed in the bedroom with the pit buII earlier in the evening. Her father told police he had put her to bed around 7:30 p.m. and later took medication to help himself sIeep. He said he checked on her around 8:30 p.m. and found her in the room with the animaI, which he said was kept there because it fought with the famiIy’s other animaIs. The bedroom door was fitted with a child lock that would have prevented her from leaving on her own.
The mother told investigators she did not check on the child immediately after returning home from work and only discovered her child’s body later when she heard unusual breathing from the room.
The investigation by police and prosecutors revealed that this was not the first time the child had suffered serious injuries from the same animal. According to court filings, the child had been attacked by the same animaI, roughly 12 days before the fatal incident, and required treatment at the Children’s Hospital for a partially severed ear and other wounds. That earlier incident was reported to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, but authorities say neither police nor animal control were notified at that time.
Oklahoma Human Services conducted an investigation after the first attack but did not remove the child from the home. Police allege the parents continued to allow the animaI to remain in the residence and at times confined it in the child’s bedroom, even after the prior mauIing. Prosecutors have argued that the parents maliciously failed to protect their child and permitted her to remain in the presence of a dangerous, malnourished animaI, fully aware of the serious risk of harm.
The decision to elevate the charges to first‑degree murder followed a review of what prosecutors described as “horrendous details” in the case. Both defendants had initially been arrested on complaints of second‑degree murder shortly after the child’s death, but the District Attorney’s Office filed upgraded charges in early December.