Funeral services set for Woodbridge baby boy fatally mauled by dog

WOODBRIDGE – Funeral services are scheduled Friday for the 3-month-old boy who was fatally mauled by a pit bull at his family’s Avenel section home last weekend.

The funeral for Daymon Balbuena, who was born Dec. 7, 2023, is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Flynn and Son Funeral Home, 23 Ford Ave., in the Fords section. Interment will be at St. Gertrude's Cemetery in the Colonia section, according to Daymon’s obituary.

Visitation will be 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

"The love he brought to his family during his short life will never be forgotten," Daymon’s obituary states.

A GoFundMe page, created by Kayla Gil of Avenel, has exceeded the $15,000 goal toward the baby's funeral expenses. More than 200 people have offered donations.

"We can not imagine the pain this family has had to endure the past couple of days and the pain they will carry as they cope with the loss of their beautiful baby boy Daymon," the page states.

Gil, who is close to the baby's parents, Sierra Kelley Balbuena and Henry Balbuena, said she is asking the community to come together to support them as they deal with a tragic loss. All donations will be given to the parents.

Besides his parents, the baby is survived by his sister, grandparents and great grandparents, the obituary states.

Police responded to a call around 6:17 a.m. March 9 at a Mereline Avenue residence where officers found an unresponsive baby believed to have been attacked by the family’s dog, a pit bull, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said.

The mother and child were seriously injured by the dog, and the baby was pronounced dead at the scene, the Prosecutor’s Office said. The mother and father were taken to the hospital for treatment and released later that day, the Prosecutor's Office said.

The dog has been put down by the veterinarian as a result of this incident, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

The incident remains under investigation.

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Funeral set for Woodbridge NJ baby boy fatally mauled by dog