This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

EAST LINDA--

When she left him alone in her trailer home with three of her pit bulls to go to work, Alexandria Griffin-Heady said she failed her half-brother 9-year-old Tyler Trammell-Huston.

"I failed him, whether it's my fault, my dogs' fault, whoever's fault. I wanted to protect him, and I wanted to give him an amazing life," Griffin-Heady told FOX40.

Later that morning, Tyler was attacked by those dogs. Griffin-Heady said she never thought that would happen.

"He loved them, he laid in the bed with them. He played with them. He wanted one of their puppies," Griffin-Heady said.

"She returned to that residence approximately three hours later, discovered him unresponsive with significant wounds," said Yuba County Sheriff Steven Durfor who added Griffin-Heady called 911, but Tyler was pronounced dead at the hospital.

"I'm guessing he got up to go to the bathroom or got up to get up, he tried to leave and from there I don't know," said Griffin-Heady.

Griffin-Heady said her half brother was staying with her over the weekend, but lived with a foster family in Elk Grove. However Griffin-Heady had plans to take Tyler out of the foster system.

"His only wish for Christmas was to have a mom, I so badly wanted to be that person for him," Griffin-Heady told FOX40.

"Certainly as we continue the investigation, we will vet out any appropriate criminal charges and make the appropriate filling to the da's office," Durfor told FOX40.

Meanwhile Sheriff Durfor said before Sunday there were no other calls to that home for problems with those dogs. Durfor adds more than likely all 3 pit bulls will be put down as a result of this attack.

"At two of the three it's been mentioned to me, that had clear indications of blood on the muzzle," Durfor said.

Griffin-Heady told FOX40 she understands why that has to happen and as much as she loves her dogs, her brother was so much more important.

"He'll never get to drive a car. He'll never get to have a first kiss. He'll never get to graduate. He wanted to be a zookeeper you know, he loved animals. And it kills me he'll never get any of those," Griffin-Heady said.