Child Kills Self After Mom Puts Down Injured Pet Dog; Abuse Suspected

A woman in Missouri has been charged in connection with her young daughter’s suicide. The 12-year-old girl had allegedly shot herself after her mother killed her pet dog.

On Jan. 1, 39-year-old Annie Small fatally shot her daughter’s pet dog despite the girl opposing to it. The canine had been badly wounded in a fight, CBS/ABC-affiliated KHQA reported. After killing the dog, the woman left for work.

Hours later, the woman’s son messaged her saying the girl was not doing ok and about 30 minutes later, he called to inform her the 12-year-old had shot herself.

During the investigation, Small told the officers the girl wouldn’t have killed herself had she not killed the canine, court documents stated, KHQA reported.

The officers also found a handwritten note in the victim’s diary that stated, "Plz help me plz plz help." Other notes stating "I hate life" and "I am not loved" were also found in the girl’s room.

When asked about the same, Small told the investigators the girl had spoken to her about harming herself a day before she took her life. Small had offered to take the girl to a doctor, but she refused. The mother also admitted the children could access the firearms, the Kansas City Star reported.

Following the investigation, the woman was taken into custody. Earlier this week, Small appeared in the court and was charged with abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death. She remained in the Clark County Jail as of Tuesday and her bond was set at $100,000.

Meanwhile, Clark County Prosecuting Attorney April Wilson told McClatchy News that though it wasn’t common to file criminal charges in connection with a suicide, this wasn’t her first case. Few years ago, Harley Branham, a Dairy Queen manager in Fayette, Missouri, was charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly bullying a teen before he killed himself.

"If you have serious mental or emotional injury, it can you lead you to do very serious self-harming or harming of others," Wilson told the outlet.

She said in Small’s case, neither did the woman provide the victim with proper medical care, nor did she secure guns that were there in the residence when the girl was making "self-harming statements."

"I just believe that the way this child died was criminal in nature, and I’m certainly not going to shy away from addressing it," Wilson said.