By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
LINCOLN PARK — A neighbor heard the scream.
“My baby’s dead,” was the cry on Empire Street in July 2010.
Among the final witnesses heard during lengthy preliminary examinations in the dog-mauling death of 5-year-old Kyle Holland, neighbor Cindy Woods testified Jan. 6 before 25th District Court Judge David Zelenak. Woods said she often sat on her porch in the morning, and clearly recalled when she heard screaming from the home shared by Kyle’s mother, Debralynn Holland, and her boyfriend, Earl Dwayne Adkins.
After hearing Holland cry over her son’s death, Woods said she saw Adkins running in and out of the house and moving a vehicle around the corner before police arrived in response to Woods’ 911 call.
There, officers discovered Kyle, who had been mauled to death by a large dog belonging to Adkins.
Since September 2011, multiple hearings have been held to determine if Holland and Adkins will be bound over to circuit court, awaiting possible charges including manslaughter.
The most recent session included testimony from Darryl Qualls, Holland’s former boyfriend; Woods; another friend of Holland’s, and the first Lincoln Park detective to arrive on the scene.
One more witness is expected to testify Jan. 27 before Zelenak determines whether to bind the case over to circuit court.
Previous testimony included medical examiners and investigating officers, who explained the severity of Kyle’s wounds and injuries. The boy suffered more than 80 puncture wounds and 250 abrasions from a 90-pound German shepherd/husky mix; some have claimed the animal to be a wolf-dog hybrid. Zelenak previously explained that the dog’s breed is irrelevant to the charges of ownership of a dangerous animal and leaving a defenseless boy vulnerable to injury.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected])