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New Video Sheds More Light On Myls Dobson's Brief Life Of Abuse
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 31, 2014
Modified Jan 31, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 31, 2014
Modified Jan 31, 2014
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Nearly two weeks after abused 4-year-old Myls Dobson was laid to rest, new video of his mother's 2011 arrest for child abuse has surfaced, offering a glimpse into the toddler's short, tumultuous life.
The video, obtained by DNAinfo from the Colleton County sheriff's office in South Carolina, was taken in April 2011, shortly after Myls' grandmother, Faith Bennett, brought her grandson into a local medical center to treat bruises on his head and body. In the video, mother Ashlee Dobson explains to the deputy sheriff that Myls had run out into the street, so she "picked him up and I popped him. I said, ‘You cannot do that.'"
A few minutes later, Bennett tells the deputy sheriff that though Dobson "does her best," her daughter "needs mental help," and she'd been pushing to get social services involved; Bennett tells the officer she was the one who noticed Myls' bruises on his ear and head: "I looked at him and I said, 'Ashlee, what happened to Myls?'" DNAinfo notes that in a part of the video not featured, Bennett says Dobson had previously tried to commit suicide. "See, Ashley blacks out,” she said. “Before she ever had a child, she blacks out."
Most heartbreakingly, though, the video captures a conversation between the toddler and the deputy sheriff, who gives him a high five, asks him if he's a big guy (Myls responded, "Yeah,") and offers him some juice. The toddler had just celebrated his second birthday the day prior.
Dobson was eventually arrested and charged with child abuse. She lost custody of Myls in August of that year, and he was sent to live with father Okee Wade—who had a lengthy rap sheet—in New York. In December 2013, Wade left Myls in the care of friend Kryzie King before getting arrested in New Jersey on bank fraud charges; King allegedly beat, burned and starved Myls until he tragically died in the bathroom of her Midtown apartment on January 8th.
King, 27, was indicted in Manhattan court earlier this month, and charged with first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful imprisonment. She is also being investigated on suspicion of murder.
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ashlee dobson
child abuse
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myls dobson
Rebecca Fishbein
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