Mother of Deadly Spider Bite Victim Wants Answers
By: Deedra Wilson, KARK 4 News
Updated: August 7, 2012
There have been reports of three separate cases of spider bites, including one that left a 17-year-old dead, at Little Rock's Job Corps facility.
The most recent one occurred this past weekend.
Now the mother of the boy who died from a spider bite is speaking out about her son's death for the first time.
According to medical reports and a parent, spiders are running rampant at a facility that helps teens and young adults carve a career path and earn a high school diploma or GED.
Now one mom wants answers not just for herself, but for everyone involved.
Sabrina Washington is just now able to open up about her son Desmond Wilkins, and when she does, it's only memories.
"He loved to fish," Washington recalls. "He did little sports like baseball, football."
Desmond Wilkins was 17 years old and just two months away from graduating Job Corps in Little Rock, where he was studying to work on air conditioners. Last October, Washington says she got a call from him saying he'd been bitten by a spider at the facility.
"I told him what he needed to do was go on and go to the hospital," Washington says.
According to Washington, her son didn't go to the hospital until four days after suffering the bite, as that's when she says Job Corps finally let Desmond go to Children's Hospital where he later died.
"The infection from the spider bite had spread all over his body," she says.
There were also reports that Dwight Smith, then social development director at Little Rock Job Corps, was rushed to the emergency room at St. Vincent due to a spider bite in April of 2011.
Sources say Smith was let go from Job Corps two months later, even though we're told he was still under a doctor's care.
Most recently, a 21-year-old at Job Corps was taken to UAMS just this past Saturday for a spider bite that became infected.
Washington says all of these spider bite cases have her wanting answers.
"I just want to get down to what really happened when he was sick," she says.
And "why," according to her, Job Corps waited so long before allowing her son to go to the emergency room.
Washington says she wants changes made for the safety of everyone.
A public affairs official at the regional office of Job Corps in Dallas said on Tuesday that they would respond, but as of news time the call was yet to be returned.
Sources say the young man bitten by a spider this past Saturday is back at Job Corps.
The most recent one occurred this past weekend.
Now the mother of the boy who died from a spider bite is speaking out about her son's death for the first time.
According to medical reports and a parent, spiders are running rampant at a facility that helps teens and young adults carve a career path and earn a high school diploma or GED.
Now one mom wants answers not just for herself, but for everyone involved.
Sabrina Washington is just now able to open up about her son Desmond Wilkins, and when she does, it's only memories.
"He loved to fish," Washington recalls. "He did little sports like baseball, football."
Desmond Wilkins was 17 years old and just two months away from graduating Job Corps in Little Rock, where he was studying to work on air conditioners. Last October, Washington says she got a call from him saying he'd been bitten by a spider at the facility.
"I told him what he needed to do was go on and go to the hospital," Washington says.
According to Washington, her son didn't go to the hospital until four days after suffering the bite, as that's when she says Job Corps finally let Desmond go to Children's Hospital where he later died.
"The infection from the spider bite had spread all over his body," she says.
There were also reports that Dwight Smith, then social development director at Little Rock Job Corps, was rushed to the emergency room at St. Vincent due to a spider bite in April of 2011.
Sources say Smith was let go from Job Corps two months later, even though we're told he was still under a doctor's care.
Most recently, a 21-year-old at Job Corps was taken to UAMS just this past Saturday for a spider bite that became infected.
Washington says all of these spider bite cases have her wanting answers.
"I just want to get down to what really happened when he was sick," she says.
And "why," according to her, Job Corps waited so long before allowing her son to go to the emergency room.
Washington says she wants changes made for the safety of everyone.
A public affairs official at the regional office of Job Corps in Dallas said on Tuesday that they would respond, but as of news time the call was yet to be returned.
Sources say the young man bitten by a spider this past Saturday is back at Job Corps.
