# 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two dogs



## GunnerJones (Jul 30, 2005)

74-Year-Old Florida Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two Dogs
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,373325,00.html

How does something like this happen??


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## CertainlySpoiled (Dec 2, 2007)

That's sad, and scary!


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## shilohsmom (Jul 14, 2003)

I have no idea how something like that would happen. It is sad.


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## ebrannan (Aug 14, 2006)

It must have been horrible for her. Especially because those dogs were her heart. I always read that Floridatoday.com Web site, and read the story earlier today. It was probably the aggressive Lab mix, but who will ever know. 
At some point, we are looking to move from Northern VA to either Cocoa, Indian Harbour Beach or Merritt Island. Nice area, A+ schools, low crime and the price is right.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Such a tragedy. 

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dl...ONTPAGECAROUSEL


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

I just read that Floridatoday.com article and I don't know but some of the this just doesn't make sense. Especially this part:



> Quote:The two dogs -- a 6-year-old golden retriever and Labrador mix and an 11-year-old Australian shepherd -- are being held by Brevard County Animal Service and Enforcement.


An 11 year old dog was involved? Odd enough a dog 6 years old would suddenly snap on her but an ancient old dog of 11?? And then there's the part about the Cocker Spaniel "not being involved in the attack". Huh? Why is THAT dog not guilty as well? Could it be because it's a cuddly wuddly Cocker Spaniel? 

The death is listed as caused by blunt force trauma "caused by the dogs" with numerous bite marks. How's this for a possibility, the lady fell and died from the fall and the dogs being distraught nipped and pulled at her in distress? 

I'm not saying the dogs are beyond the possibility of being responsible but I find alot of this story just doesn't add up. I see two large older dogs being destroyed "at the family's wishes" and a Cocker Spaniel getting a free pass. That's all that's certain for me.


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## EastGSD (Jul 8, 2001)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

I had the same thoughts GSDad, it is not unusual for dogs to "mess with" a body of their dead owner. If no one was there to see this happen how do they know what happened? I guess it will depend a lot on the final autopsy report....

shame...dogs look really confused and I am sure the family is in shock...

Cherri


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

I am guessing it is possible the Cocker was in a crate or enclosed in another room to be really ruled out. That was my thought.


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

As long as we're speculating, maybe she had a webcam on, or a survailence camera running.... Unlikely but the entire thing sounds unlikely. Nonetheless, it would be difficult to keep a dog that had been nibbling one of your relatives wouldn't it? Unless, of course, you detested that relative.

I thought the link at the bottom of the page that goes to a headline "Teeth Whiteners Exposed" was somewhat unfortunate.


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

According to a neighbor who was interviewed on our local NBC station (WESH), the golden/lab mix and aussie mix didn't belong to the woman but belonged to her son/s who had recently moved in with her. The neighbor said the dogs got into a fight with the cocker and she was killed when she attempted to break it up. BUT the neighbor didn't say how he knew what happened when she was killed.


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## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

This makes no sense.

The Lab mix was aggressive, so it was kept seperately.. but yet maybe the Lab and Aussie mix got into a fight?

The neighbor thinks the lady tried to step in between fighting dogs.... but it was her son who found her body in the house? Does the neighbor have x-ray vision to see inside the home? 

Dislocated shoulder sounds like a fall. Kibble-fed housepets, even with aggression issues, while a dog may bite, do not suddenly, randomly make DINNER out of someone. Did she trip and fall on the Cocker, who got scared, the fall and the adrenaline sent one of the other dogs into a frenzy, there was a dogfight, and she got in the middle then? Maybe. Smells fishy.


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## ninhar (Mar 22, 2003)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Probably wasn't the first time the dogs got into it. That poor woman.


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## Maedchen (May 3, 2003)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

_Kibble-fed housepets, even with aggression issues, while a dog may bite, do not suddenly, randomly make DINNER out of someone._

Would you mean raw-fed dogs are more likely to do that, since they're used to eating meat?















There was a case in France a year or two ago, were a Lab chewed off the nose and part face off of her owner - she survived, but needed extensive reconstr. surgery. I'm sure the dog was fed kibble. 

It's really horrible what happend to that poor woman. It's hard to believe no one heard the commotion or her screams??? espec. those neighbors who seem to know everything.

With several dogs in a home, you have the pack mentality of wild animals setting in and in their frenzy they feed off of each other. It's very easy for a dog to dislocate the shoulder (esp. of an elderly person), if he pulls hard on the arm, but I sure would rather believe she fell and died, before the dogs got to her. Very sad.


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## Kayos and Havoc (Oct 17, 2002)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Very sad and we may never know what really happened.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

This makes all the sense in the world to me. The aggressive lab mix was kept segregated in another room in the house because it did not get along with the other dogs. Do you realize how hard that is to do and never screw up? 

So far, after Arwen and Jazzy got into it big time, two days later, half asleep, I thought I could hold one while switching them to let the other inside. It was on. I ended up with a decent bite from that because of my own stupidity. 

Dubya and Rushie got into it and while I was separating them Arwen and Jenna went at it in the house. Others piled on and getting them all crated I had the two girls to deal with, I did not get bitten that time. 

One day I came home and Jenna and Heidi were loose together. I must not have latched her kennel securely. They were fine, but it could have been a mess.

I did get a nice bite when Arwen and Rushie had a spat. 

I paint a grusome scene of dog fights at my house. But that was about the extent of them. Still, I have a system where everyone has their own crate inside and their own kennel outside, and I know exactly how to let them out to have no squabbles and no problems. A moment's carelessness and I have a fight on my hands. 

I am 39, big, and strong and find it difficult to break up a fight between two 70-80 pound dogs. I cannot imagine being that much older and trying to do this. 

I know to grab the tail and pull and get a gate between them and use my feet to get them apart. This woman only knew that her dogs were being seriously injured. 

Once the dogs were in the heat of battle and the woman tried to get them apart and got bitten and pulled into the fray, it does not surprise me that the dogs both attacked the weaker leader of the pack. They are dogs. Even if they are golden/lab mixes and australian shepherd mixes. They still have a pack mentality. 

When the young pack member jumps the old leader, often times the other pack members will join in the fray and it is usually the weak one that gets turned on. 

Poor woman. Poor family. One moment of carelessness is all it takes. Having three or more dogs IS a lot different from one or two for some reason. Three IS a pack. Breed doesn't matter. You bet the cocker was part of the problem. But it is also possible that the lab mix would have been trouble with just the AS mix, if they took and instant dislike to each other. 

I am glad they mentioned the breeds of the dogs and as rotten as it sounds, I am sure glad that pitt bulls, GSDs, Rottweilers, and Dobermans were not mentioned.


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Even an 11 year old dog?









Sorry, but no way IMO. 

Also did you see the pics of the dogs while in custody on floridatoday.com? Neither is torn up in the slightest. Was there a fight?


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

The picture I saw looked like the one was torn up quite a bit, the other looked like it may have been on the side of the neck. 

Ok, is the coroner going to bother to measure the bite wounds and match them to each of the dogs? I think not. But if this person was not a strong leader, than yes, I think that the eleven year old might have joined into the biting once the woman was down. I am just not all that surprised. Especially, if these were her son's dogs and she did not have the older one for eleven years, as one report put it.

What a grusome way to come into your inheritance. Have mom take care of a couple of your dogs, one of them dog aggressive. Boy, I have to stop being so cynical. But what was he thinking??? Leave an old woman to care for a problem dog, where other dogs are present??? If we need someone to blame here, it is the son, who left his known aggressive dog with his elderly mother to take care of in the presence of other dogs. 

If this was a pit bull, nobody would be questioning this at all. And yet, we say over and over again that pits are bred to be good with people and that it is not the dog it is the owner, and that it is not the breed. Pit bulls are not any more a pack animal than other dogs. And yet, many of the attacks involve more than one animal.


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## ninhar (Mar 22, 2003)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

An 11 year old dog is not ancient and is quite capable of causing damage. I had to keep Sheba and Cody separated for years. Its a very difficult way to live, but it was the only way those two dogs could live in my house. Like Selzer, we had a routine that we kept to. The last time Cody went after Sheba she was close to 11. That only happened because BF refused to believe me that the dogs had to be kept separated at all times and thought he could control the situation. 

BTW, my 11 year old dog plays ball every day and goes for 1/2 to 1 mile walk just about every night. She is quite healthy as those dogs look to be, so yeah, I can see an 11 year old dog in the fray.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

When I read the fox news artical, I thought it was a fight she got into the middle of. When I saw the florida story, and pictures it definitely confirmed it. Look at the older dog, it has bites around the eye and on the leg and on its throat. The poor lady was trying to pull the other dog off of this one and she was dragged into it. 

I cannot say for sure both dogs bit her, but when you see a dog fighting, it is like nothing else. It is a frenzy. Arwen was fence fighting with Jazzy back and forth, hyped up, usually she would grab up a toy and squeak it furiously. One day she tripped over and grabbed up Dubya in her frenzy. He was seven weeks old. I was there and got him out of her mouth immediately, but there was a bloody cut on him. That is when the tarp went up and the fence fighting was put an end to.

Dog fights are viscious and bloody. The old lady was probably bitten several times by accident before they actually turned their aggression on her. 

None of us were there. But that old dog was definitely in a dog fight. The marks are there. And definitely, an eleven year old dog would be in a fight if the other dog jumped him or if the other dog was trying to gain control.


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

I don't see it. My own dogs were torn up much worse when they had their serious battles last year.

As I said originally, I don't deny the possibility the dogs could've done this, but I find it at the very least unlikely to have played out as reported and at most not to have happened that way at all. Lots of things we don't know here so no real way to have a verdict.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

I see three good bites on the old dog, wounds that would have cause serious pain. The other dog looks like he was held by the neck, but the picture does not show much. It looks like the younger dog came away pretty clean, and that is not surprising. But there was definitely a fight. 

Just because they did not kill each other does not mean anything. I think that dogs are different then bitches in this extent. Bitches don't quit. They will posture and display proper submissiveness and avoid a fight on occasion, but once it is on, they will kill eachother if you do not step in and break it up. So if yours were bitches, then they probably were a lot worse looking. 

Dogs on the other hand, can be beaten and give up, then the victor may accept that and strut around and be the pack leader.


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Uh, I have decades of experience with GSDs. I don't need a lecture thanks.

I stated my opinion and you stated your's. No need to beat me about the head with it. We disagree. Live with it.


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*



> Originally Posted By: GSDadEven an 11 year old dog?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


An 11 year old dog is quite capable of engaging in a fight. I had a friend whose 11-1/2 year old bitch was killed in a bitch fight with her life long companion. The two girls had never had a cross word until the night of the fight. My own Tasha was almost 10 when she had her first and only fight in her life. It was with a friend's elderly GSD - neither dog was hurt that time.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

By GSDad,

"Uh, I have decades of experience with GSDs. I don't need a lecture thanks.

I stated my opinion and you stated your's. No need to beat me about the head with it. We disagree. Live with it."

Ok, but you do not sound like you have decades of experience. Sorry, but you could not see bite wounds on the dog in the photo and thought that wasn't enough to constitute a fight. Your dogs looked worse when they got into it, etc. 

Sorry, but this thread is not just for you but for anyone who may be reading it. 

I wasn't lecturing, but now I am because I take offense at your attitude. We are not the only ones that disagree that an eleven year old dog may be implicated. I gave my reasons. That is all. 

I cannot see anything more likely than mishandling a dogfight for this outcome. 

You have not provided any other possibilities, just that you cannot believe it. Believe what? That two dogs turned on their elderly caretaker? I cannot believe that the coroner was wrong and all the evidence points to a dog fight that sparked it. 

If you cannot handle being wrong, then I hope that you are right 99.9% of the time.


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*



> Originally Posted By: selzerBy GSDad,
> 
> "Uh, I have decades of experience with GSDs. I don't need a lecture thanks.
> 
> ...


And you formed your opinion of my experience from this post? I think your investigative skills need some work. I saw small abrasions nothing so drastic as would be caused by a fight so intense as is being suggested. As for the coroner, well coroners have been wrong plenty of times. They go by what they can see but they are not infallible. 

And yes, I did indeed provide another possibility.



> Originally Posted By: GSDadHow's this for a possibility, the lady fell and died from the fall and the dogs being distraught nipped and pulled at her in distress?


I take offense at YOUR attitude, but I can live with your disparaging tone. And as for "We are not the only ones that disagree that an eleven year old dog can be implicated" neither am I the only one that doesn't agree with the notion that this happened exactly as we're being told.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Nope, from your previous post.

From the Florida artical: 'May had been bitten on her arms, shoulder and neck, police said. "She was bitten more times than anyone can count," said Lt. Todd Hutchinson of Titusville police. "She suffered a dislocated shoulder."'

It is the coroner that will be the person with the best tools to decide what actually killed her. By bruising, you could tell if the person was dead before the bite wounds happened. I suppose there are other ways to tell as well. If the jugular was bitten through and there is blood on the floor and not in the body, one might believe that the person bled to death. 

The dislocated shoulder could have been suffered while trying to break the dogs up, either by being pulled out, or by falling. It fits. I would think that dislocation would be more likely be pulled out trying to pull the one away from the other or being dragged forward, than by a fall. But it could be either way I guess. 

When you are sleeping and your dog wants to wake you up, what do they do? Generally they will shove their wet nose in your face. I have one who will repeatedly jump on the bed and off of it to get me up. They will nudge you. I have not have ANY nip me yet. But bite more times than anyone can count???

The idea that these two dogs were working together to revive or wake up the owner is absurd. The one dog was segragated from the other because it did not get along with the other dogs. The other dog has bite wounds on it because it had been bitten several times. 

I find my version of events more plausible than death from natural causes triggering multiple bite wounds. 

I do not understand why anyone would think this is so impossible. Because the bad guy here is yellow lab/golden retriever??? Anyone with decades of experience with GSDs would know that a dog fight can easily turn into a bad scene with only one person there to break it up. Added that this is an elderly woman, and an large dog with issues with the others. It was a set up waiting to happen. 

But we can wait for the coroner if it makes you feel better.

If the cause of death is heart attack brought on by the activity of the dog fight and not the bites. How could you actually tell if the attack on the person did not cause the heart attack? The woman is just as dead, and the son has to think about what he might have done differently. 

Everyone knows Mom can die falling down the stairs. But saddling Mom with this kind of a situation makes ya ask what was he thinking???

I am glad you can live with it, because I really do not need a death on my conscience.


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Check again. I made no post prior to the one I quoted.

BTW, I never said it was "impossible". In fact I more than once said it was. What I _did_ say was that the facts as told are open to question. I made those questions and offered another possibility.


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## Maedchen (May 3, 2003)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Looking at the pictures of the dogs, aren't they both reddish discolored around the neck/chest area incl. the left ear? Hope, that's not the womans dried blood.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

"I don't see it. My own dogs were torn up much worse when they had their serious battles last year.

As I said originally, I don't deny the possibility the dogs could've done this, but I find it at the very least unlikely to have played out as reported and at most not to have happened that way at all. Lots of things we don't know here so no real way to have a verdict. "

This was the one where you didn't see the dogs having looked like they were in a fight, and your own dogs were worse. 

I gave this some thought today and I think that the only way that woman would have been bitten so many times that they could not be counted is if she was struggling, fighting back. What a complete horror story. 

I would have expected the dogs to have been covered in blood though. 

Who really knows what happened. But when you have a pack of dogs, especially when you have some that do not get along with others, you have to be constantly vigilent or spend time in the ER with them. 

I can also see a reluctance to believe that house dogs that are well-cared for could be capable of this. 

I really worry about this because I gave Mom Cujo. Almost immediately, he decided that he was alpha over Pip and there were some squabbles. No blood. Cujo is fixed, Pip is not. Pip is nearly 14 at last count and and English Setter. The idea of Cujo attacking Mom for stopping him from killing Pip is terrible. But she has had Cujo since about 14 weeks old.


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*



> Quote:May had been bitten on her arms, shoulder and neck, police said. "She was bitten more times than anyone can count," said Lt. Todd Hutchinson of Titusville police. "She suffered a dislocated shoulder."
> 
> He described the scene inside the house as gruesome.
> 
> An autopsy by the medical examiner's office Friday concluded that May died of multiple blunt trauma caused by two of her dogs. The final medical report and the investigation could take up to 12 weeks, police said.


That was the police lieutenant talking about the bite number and his opinion of the scene as "gruesome" - not the coroner. All we have from the corner is "multiple blunt trauma caused by the dogs". No word from the corner about bites. Blunt trauma could mean anything including a fall. 

And here's the dogs in custody:



















The lab-mix doesn't have a scratch on him and just a little bit of wetted fur around the neck. Even the 11 year old only has a bit of abrasion about one eye. If this had been the "gruesome" fight we're expected to believe I stand by my assessment that there is too little damage to either dog for this to be proven. Perhaps there was indeed a fight of some sort and perhaps that fight led to a fall. Perhaps the dogs did indeed nip and tug at her in distress when she didn't move any more and lay still. I don't know and neither do you. We weren't there. I don't think anything can be certain from what information we have either. What is certain is that there is plenty to have doubts about in this story and that was my entire point.


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## Timber1 (May 19, 2007)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

There are so many differing opinions, that I hope at some point we will receive a plusable explanation.

Frankly, from the photos the dogs do not look like vicious animals.

The older dog does look like it was in a bit of a fight.


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## ninhar (Mar 22, 2003)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

The older dog looks like he got nailed on his leg, eye and above his ear. The younger dog looks to have discoloration on his ears and chest. Anyone who has had a dog's ears biten in a fight knows how bloody that can get very quickly. I can make a minor fight look like a bloodbath.


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Exactly, Nina. The amount of blood could be entirely misleading. It will be interesting indeed if we get any more details from the coroner and the investigation as a whole. I hope we do.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

A fight with no marks on anyone (when pulled apart) can be a harrowing and frenzied experience. It certainly is enough to cause my heart to race and sweat to come, and the shakes when it is over. And then I get physically ill. I can see it causing a heart attack.


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## Guest (Jul 1, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Indeed, it could just as easily have been a heart attack. I guess we'll have to wait for a report on an autopsy for word on that. There may not be one though. Little call for one when the family is satisfied with what they have as evidence. No perpetrator to look for either when that's been decided too. Yet it could indeed be other than what is presumed to have happened. It's unlikely that we'll ever know for sure.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

If I was the son who owned the dogs that are accused of killing his mother, I would be looking for any explanation other than their attacking and killing her. 

If he is satisfied that that is what happened, he may have accepted the fact, and now has to live with it.


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## Guest (Jul 1, 2008)

*Re: 74-Year-Old Woman Mauled to Death by Her Two d*

Or he could be too upset at her loss to be thinking of anything else and just accepted what was given as the explanation. In such cases police aren't interested in getting great detail when they have what appears to be an obvious answer and nothing further to investigate. They like closed cases.


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