Much of what I report on as a breaking news and cops reporter involves tragedy, and often that includes trying to contact families who have lost loved ones to violence or horrible accidents.

When we are able to contact families, their reactions vary widely: Some are happy for a chance to talk about their loved ones, some don't want to be bothered, some are understandably wary of some reporter they don't know asking them intimate questions at the worst possible time, and the list goes on.

As much as possible, my colleagues and I do our best to be sensitive to grieving families while also doing our jobs and putting together the most complete, objective, accurate stories we can.

Sometimes after we've built a repport with families, communication continues after the main story has published.

This was the case with the family of Katya Teresa Todesco, 5, who tragically died following an attack by a pit bull mix a family friend was caring for.

After I spoke to Katya's mother and father for our first story about the incident, we exchanged e-mails on several occasions.

After the first story published, for example, we received several calls from television stations asking if we could use the pictures the Todesco family had provided us. We don't give those out without permission, so I contacted the family and they gave their consent to share the photos.

Most recently, I received a note from a family friend who had made a memorial slideshow about Katya's life, and who wanted to know if we would put it on our article. I contacted the family to confirm that the video was what it purported to be and ask if they would like it on the web site, if that would be possible. They said it was and they would.

The article is no longer prominent on our web site, so we decided to include the slideshow in this blog.

Here it is:



For context, here are the two stories we published about Katya's tragic death:

Criminal probe opened in fatal dog attack

Simi Valley girl, 5, dies after backyard dog attack

Another bit of back story has to do with the way stories are picked up by other media outlets.

The day after we published our story about the tragic pit bull attack, we got calls from three television stations asking if they could share the photos Katya Todesco's family gave us, and if we could help them contact the family.

To protect the privacy of our sources, our policy prohibits us from sharing contact information or photos provided to us without a source's express permission.

I passed on the requests to Mrs. Todesco, and while she said she and her husband weren't ready to talk any more, she gave us permission to share the photos.

Here's one that didn't make it into our paper, partly because it's large and partly because I didn't know where or exactly when it was taken. (However, Mrs. Todesco said all of the photos shared with us were recent.)

Many times when we report stories, we learn interesting details that don't end up in an article, either because there's no space for them or because they just don't fit.

This was the case with the story of the tragic pit bull attack in Simi Valley last week that killed 5-year-old Katya Teresa Todesco.

After I first learned the girl's name on Monday, I found a number for the family and called. (Cold calling grieving families is never something I like to do, but it's a part of the job. I simply do my best to be as respectful as I possible can.)

The first number I found for a Todesco family turned out to be the right one.

I spoke to Katya's family and, understandably, they weren't ready to talk to a reporter. They said they might be willing to share photos with us, and I left them my e-mail address and phone number in case they changed their minds.

Later that day, Katya's mother, Katia, called me to express concerns that the short story we had on the web was wrong. I explained that the descriptions of the tragic incident I had came from the police, and she agreed to speak with me to set the record straight.

I was only able to include part of what Katia Todesco told me in the article, so I wanted to tell some of the back story here.

Mrs. Todesco said she called because our first web story reported that police said it happened at her home, and she said that was not accurate. She said her family doesn't even own dogs, and that they were at a friend's house when the tragedy occurred. (We were not able to clear up the discrepancy Monday afternoon, so we had to report both her version and the police's version.)

I mentioned in the article that Todesco praised the doctors at Simi Valley hospital who, with the help of a blood transfusion, were able to revive her daughter. The girl lived for two more days at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

But we didn't have space to include the family's request that anyone who wants to help them donate blood in Katya's memory.

We mentioned that the Todesco family donated Katya's organs, but didn't have space to include the fact that her mother told me an organ donor flag given to her by the hospital was flying proudly outside their home as we spoke.

Yet another powerful detail that didn't make it into the story: Todesco works in a medical center, she told me, and some of her daughter's organs went to that same medical center.