His younger sister is recovering — and already talking about going back to school, said Robinson, a 33-year-old property manager.
Before Salone escaped, Chaney took her car keys, cellphone and some cash before driving off in her car, her sister said.
After cutting his parolee ankle monitor, Chaney boarded an Amtrack train to Salt Lake City, according to his arrest warrant. But he was arrested about four hours away in Winnemucca, Nevada, where authorities found him wrapped in a tarp inside a shed on Sept. 2.
Salone, whose left eye was badly damaged during the attack, has the guilt that any mother would, Robinson said.
She said she keeps getting texts from her sister saying, “I promise I did not know.”
“We can’t understand why he did it,” Robinson said. “Why all of a sudden this man would grab a hammer and start beating kids up. I asked my sister whether she noticed anything, and she said no.”
She and Salone raised Dante “hand in hand” with her son, who is just a few weeks older than Dante was, Robinson said.
“When his feelings were hurt, he would walk into the corner and wait for one of us to come over and give him a hug,” she said. “He was our emotional kid.”