Dog Mauling Case Still Under Investigation

Dorchester County Sheriff Luther C. Knight said his office is still investigating what led to the .

No charges have been filed in the case, but Knight didn't rule out the possibility. Both dogs that were in the home at the time of the incident are being housed at the Dorchester County Law Enforcement Center on Deming Way in Summerville.

According to a statement Knight made to media at the LEC, the child's mother returned home around 11 a.m. Friday and found her 2-month-old son badly injured from an apparent mauling by one of the dogs. The infant was rushed to Summerville Medical Center by Dorchester County EMS and later died.

Knight said only one of the dogs was thought to have been involved in the mauling. Knight said he was not sure what type of dog it is. The McGrew family had taken it in for family friends, who later decided they did not want the dog, so it stayed with the McGrews. The family had owned the other dog, a lab, for several years.

Knight said the father of the child was at home when the mauling happened, but was asleep in another room with the lab.

Dorchester County Coroner Christopher Nesbit released the following statement about the case:

Today is one of the saddest days in my 20+ years of being in the Dorchester County Coroner's Office as I report to all of you, one of the worst deaths I have ever handled. Today at approximately 11:10 am this morning, Aiden Lee McGrew, a 2 month old, born on Valentines day, beautiful little boy, was bitten multiple times and dismembered by a dog in the home while the mother was away and the father was sleeping. There was two other children in the home at the time of the event that where unharmed. The baby was transported to Summerville Medical Center by Dorchester County EMS where it was pronounced dead. I will be doing an autopsy tomorrow to hopefully be able to determine if the child died prior to the dismemberment. Please do not call me for more information or with any other questions now, as the death is still being investigated also by the Dorchester County Sheriffs Office, and I have no other comments I would like to have published.

In addition to the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office, the S.C. Department of Social Services, the Dorchester County Coroner's Office, the Dorchester County Solicitor's Office and SCDHEC are involved in the investigation. Additionally SLED's Child Fatality Office has been notified of the incident, but had not said whether it will join the investigation.