Whether or not the snake did kill the kids, I think we all agree that the keeping of this snake in the manner it was kept is not something any of us would condone.
FFS, I insist on corn snakes being kept in locking cages they cannot escape from because I don't want to have to search for them. Let alone a snake over 10 feet that could pose a threat to another person or pet. We usually know enough to have a second competent person to handle such animals as they do remain wild even if we can desensitize them to their fear response to human and they tolerate us interacting with them very well.
None of us I would hope would even consider inviting more children over if there was an escaped large snake unaccounted for.
Long and short the keeper should be charged with negligence at the very least.
Lack of clear information is not helping. But, it seems that the snake is not really even the issue as much as an irresponsible person is. Unless he was unaware the snake had escaped and it had never done so before.
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