Police charge mother of girl killed by python

More than a month after an 8 1/2-foot pet Burmese python escaped its cage and killed a sleeping child, authorities today arrested the mother and her boyfriend in the girl's death.

Authorities charged 19-year-old Jaren Hare and her live-in boyfriend, Charles Darnell, with third-degree murder, manslaughter and child neglect in the death of 2-year-old Shaiunna Hare.

The two are each being held on $35,000 bond, said Lt. Bobby Caruthers, a spokesman from the Sumter County Sheriff's office.

Hare, the victim's mother, turned herself in around 4 p.m. today, Caruthers said. Darnell, who was already in jail on a narcotics charge, was charged around 5 p.m.

"Although the albino Burmese python was the instrument of death, the two adults in the home are responsible for ensuring the child's safety and welfare," Assistant State Attorney Peter Magrino said.

The couple knew the snake posed a serious risk, and it had escaped several times before, Magrino said. Pythons, which can grow to 25 feet long, kill their prey by strangulation.

Earlier reports incorrectly stated that Darnell owned the python. Today's arrest affidavit states Hare was the one who owned the snake.

In a 911 call, Darnell swears and whimpers, telling a dispatcher, "The baby's dead. ... Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby. ... She got out of the cage last night and got into the baby's crib and strangled her to death."

The child was dead when deputies arrived about 10 a.m.

Dr. Wendy Lavezzi, an associate medical examiner, determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation caused by a snake, according to the arrest report. The snake bit the child in her head, face, shoulders and arms.

The snake was alive and under furniture when officers removed it from the home on rural County Road 466. Authorities said the reptile was a family pet, along with a smaller, 6-foot python.

Darnell told deputies he placed the large snake in a bag, which he put in an aquarium the night before.
Darnell discovered the snake had escaped when he awoke that morning, officials said. He found the python on top of the girl.

Darnell, 32, told authorities he grabbed a knife and stabbed the python until it released its grip on the victim.

Two older children who were in the home at the time were not harmed.