Tributes have been paid to a US woman who died after being attacked by a pack of dogs, according to police. Priscilla Jones was “attacked and severely injured by a pack of dogs roaming the area” in Flat Lick, Kentucky, the Knox County Sheriff’s Department said.
The force said in a press release that a woman who knew her heard the 44-year-old “screaming for help” during the alleged August 29 attack and called 911. Ms Jones was reportedly found by the East Knox Fire Department (EKFD) with life-threatening injuries and was “unable to communicate.”
The Barbourville Police Department (BPD) and the local sheriff’s office were also at the scene.
Ms Jones was rushed to the nearby Barbourville ARH Hospital were police say she “succumbed to her injuries” and was declared dead.
Her heartbroken husband Johnny Smith fought back tears as he said his two children saw her lying on the ground in a grassy field after noticing the emergency services response.
Speaking to NBC affiliate Lex18, he said: “I seen the ambulance and the cops going up in there and then I got worried. I went up there just being nosy I guess, I went up through there and there she is.”
Mr Smith voiced doubt that dogs could have caused as much damage as he saw. He told the outlet he thinks “the first blow to the back of the neck” was the lethal blow that made her go down “and then the dogs helped her”.
Police said they’re working to establish where the dogs came from, and where they may be now.
Knox County Sheriff Mike Smith told Fox 56 News: “In Kentucky you do have an obligation to control and confine your animals so we’re looking at all aspects of this situation and will determine that as the investigation continues.”
Ms Jones’ sister Peggy Jones told the Fox 56 that her sibling was a “one-of-a-kind” person with a “heart of gold”.
“[She would] do anything in the world to help anybody if she could,” she added.
According to Peggy, her sister was found lying on the ground without clothes, which she claims raises questions about how she died.
She said: “I just don’t feel like that was the cause of her death. Yes, the dogs may have bit her, chewed on her, gnawed on her—whatever. But what led to that?”
Police contacted animal control who have been searching for the dogs allegedly involved the in the attack.
The investigation continues, police said.