A Virginia sheriff’s office has conclusively ruled a 22-year-old woman was mauled to death by her two dogs and no foul play occurred, despite suspicions from the girl’s family and friends.
The Goochland County Sheriff’s Office ruled Bethany Lynn Stephens’ death an accident as a result of animal mauling and closed the case Tuesday, roughly two months after she was found dead in a remote area of the town about an hour west of Richmond.
A summary of the investigation concluded Stephens was “not raped” and was not the victim of a homicide.
“She had defensive wounds on her hands and arms from trying to keep the dogs away from her. It appeared the first traumatic injury was to the face and throat,” the report said.
“Most likely Stephens was taken to the ground, lost consciousness, and then mauled to death. There were no strangulation marks, but there were puncture wounds to the skull in keeping with animal bites.”
The young woman was found dead about a day after she was last seen alive. Her two pit bulls, Tonka and Pacman, appeared to be guarding her body, police said.
Authorities said the dogs had been recently neglected when Stephens showed up.
“A lot of times, once you get those two dogs together, you drop into that pack mentality, and so the two dogs are looking at each other and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, we’re so excited’ and then that excitement turns into all hell breaks loose,” vicious-animal specialist Jemi Hodge told WAVY.
“Those dogs see red. At that point, they don’t care who their owner is. They don’t care who anybody is. All they know is they’re in the zone to bite, attack and fight,” Hodge added.