Five-day old victim died in seconds. 75-year-old suffered for five weeks.
NOVI, Michigan; OKOLONA, Mississippi––Predatory pit bull behavior was again starkly evident in Novi, Michigan and Okolona, Mississippi on March 17, 2026 and two days earlier, in the mauling deaths of five-day-old Freya French and 75-year-old Cereise Watson.
Predators typically attack the youngest and the oldest in their prey range, if they can, especially when their victims are unattended, if only momentarily, and therefore more easily vulnerable to fangs.
Few victims are more helpless than was Freya French in her bassinet, daughter of Mikell Renee Manley, 35, and Paul E. French, 38, who according to public records shared a double-wide trailer home with Paul French Sr., 68.
(Facebook photos)
“Puncture wounds consistent with an animal attack”
Neighbor Fernando Moreno told WXYZ television news staff, on camera, that their family dog was a pit bull.
Reported WXYZ, “According to the Novi Police Department, officers were called to the 42000 block of Liberte Drive for an unresponsive infant. A family member reportedly made the call to 911 around 8:30 a.m.
“Police say the infant was pronounced dead and had puncture wounds consistent with an animal attack.
“The girl’s father told 7 News Detroit off camera that the family dog somehow got hold of her while she was in her bassinet.”
The dog, the report continued, “was reportedly removed from the home and transported to Oakland County animal control. The investigation is ongoing.”
(Facebook photo)
“Snapped out right in front of everyone”
Additional details came from Scott Wolchek and Jack Nissen of Fox 2 Detroit, who interviewed the grandmother of the victim, Ellyn Berry, 59, of Redford, Michigan.
Her son, Berry told Wolchek and Nissen, “came out briefly and told me the bassinet was there and the baby was asleep in it and the dog, who they raised around other kids, for some reason knocked the bassinet over and killed the baby before they could get to them.
“He thinks the dog did it just to attack the baby,” Berry continued. “But the dog has been raised with––he’s got other toddlers in there. So we don’t know what actually happened other than the dog snapped out right in front of everyone.”
Which is what predators do, including pit bulls: watch, wait, and strike when opportunity permits.
“A grand jury could decide”
Even as the Novi, Michigan attack on Freya French was underway, 750 miles southwest Zac Carlisle and Jake Holcomb of WTVA television news in Tupelo, Mississippi were on the air explaining that, “A grand jury could decide,” whether pit bull owner Anthony Smith “faces upgraded charges following a fatal dog attack in Okolona.
“Chickasaw County Coroner Larry Harris confirmed the death of Cereise Watson, 75, of Okolona, on Sunday,” Carlisle and Holcomb continued.
Attacked on February 7, 2026 by either two or three pit bulls near the intersection of West Main and Triplett Street in Okolona, according to conflicting official statements, Cereise Watson died more than five weeks later at the Regional One Trauma Center in Memphis.
“Okolona Police investigator Selina Nabors said Anthony Smith has been charged with aggravated assault on a vulnerable adult. A judge set his bond at $10,000,” Carlisle and Holcomb told viewers.
(Beth Clifton collage)
That Anthony Smith?
Several men named Anthony Smith appear to reside in Okolona and/or surrounding parts of Chickasaw County.
One of them, Anthony Scott Smith, was in 2000 sentenced to serve 20 years with the Mississippi Department of Corrections for aggravated assault, with eight years suspended, leaving 12 years to serve plus five years on supervised probation.
The sentence was affirmed by the Mississippi Court of Appeals on August 21, 2001.
Reportage by Holcomb and Wayne Hereford about the injuries to Cereise Watson, broadcast on February 11, 2026, mentioned that, “One of the three dogs involved in the attack was taken to an animal shelter in Okolona.
“Deplorable conditions at the shelter”
“Local animal rights activists explained to WTVA 9 News that the dogs are living in deplorable conditions at the shelter,” Holcomb and Hereford recounted.
“WTVA is told the shelter does not have heating and little protection from the weather, dogs sleep on hay in cages, and there are times when multiple dogs are in one cage.
“The shelter does not have a staff.”
Testified Nanette Gaskin of Okolona, to Holcomb and Hereford, “I am very upset that they do not feed the animals when they put them there. “They do not even put a bucket of water in there. If you are going to be inhumane with it, go ahead and put them down. If you are going to starve them to death inside of a little old bitty pen, put them down.”
(Daniel Leventhal photo)
Previous coverage by Alvin Ivy for WTVA, broadcast on April 15, 2024, described how “Students in the construction class at Okolona Career and Technical Complex built six dog houses for the local animal shelter, with each home being built to fit small to medium-sized canines.”
Depicted were boxy structures little bigger than plastic travel containers, made from what appeared to be quarter-inch-thick plywood with corrugated metal or fiberglass tops.
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