Missed this one. Is it so common they don't even print it anymore? Will have to hunt for it now....
Police said they found the dog, a Presa Canario named Zino, in the backyard of a home. It was standing over the body of the mother of two.
"It looked like she had lacerations all over her body," police Capt. Rich Nicorvo said of the woman, identified by neighbors as Shawna Willey, 30. "It was quite surreal. There was quite a lot of blood."
The blackish gray dog, a leash still around its neck, reacted aggressively when officers entered the backyard, so they shot and killed it, Nicorvo said. The animal either fell or jumped into the pool and sank.
The 120-pound dog tore into Willey, in shorts and top, when she was bathing it in preparation for a family vacation this weekend, Nicorvo said. "Obviously something set him off," he said.
Willey's daughter, identified by a neighbor as 8-year-old Tyra, apparently witnessed the attack. "The daughter went to a neighbor and said the dog was attacking her mom," Nicorvo said.
Blood was smeared on bricks by the pool, as well as a side door, through which Willey may have tried to escape. She may also have grasped a roof gutter, which was tilted downward, in a desperate attempt to flee, but Nicorvo said police couldn't be sure.
Nicorvo couldn't recall such an attack in 21 years on the force.
Neighbor Paul Previtz, 17, said Willey also had a son, a 14-year-old middle school student named Trey.
Court records show Willey has had several citations for owning a vicious dog, allowing a dog at large, and failing to have proper registration and vaccination papers. The citations, which resulted in fines totaling thousands of dollars, occurred in Tampa and dated to 2000.
John Faiella, a friend of Willey's, said he was sickened. "This is horrible," he said. "She was really beautiful."
Property records show the $800,000 home is owned by Lazaro Rivero, a landscaper who police said was Willey's boyfriend. Rivero, 38, identified Willey's body, officers said. Two other dogs of unknown breed were in the home at the time. They were turned over to the Coral Springs Police Humane Unit, and Rivero will decide their fate, Nicorvo said.
Willey's body will undergo an autopsy. Nicorvo said animal control officers hadn't decided whether Zino will be examined for rabies or other afflictions.
Neighbors said the family had moved to the area within the past year. Recently, their dogs had been seen roaming wild. "A week ago, they were running through our backyard. They looked like two pit bulls," said Dawn Phillips, 44.
"Their dogs were out a lot and barked a lot," said Lou Righi, 54. "I was afraid because they were large and they looked mean. They were spooky."
The backyard of Rivero's peach-colored home was bordered by a canal and fence. All windows were either sealed with hurricane shutters or interior shutters. The Presa Canario was originally bred for fighting and guarding in the Canary Islands. They nearly went extinct in the 1950s, but were perpetuated through breeding with mastiffs.
A Presa Canario gained notoriety in January 2001, when it savagely killed a San Francisco woman. Its owner was sentenced to four years in prison.
While Hillsborough County cited Willey numerous times on dog-related charges, Nicorvo said her record here appeared clear. Court records show Rivero has several convictions from Miami-Dade County dating to 1986, including grand larceny and burglary. He was sentenced to five years' probation in 2003 after pleading no contest to a robbery charge. He and Willey's children went to an undisclosed location after the attack, Nicorvo said.
Another dog-related fatality occurred last month in Osceola County south of Orlando, when an 81-year-old man died after being mauled by two pit bulls.
What causes dogs to turn on humans is often unclear, said Stephanie Rodgers, Broward County's director of animal care and behavior. The animal may be acting out of provocation, or even have some form of sickness, such as a brain tumor. Guard dogs, such as the Presa Canario, may have natural aggressive tendencies amplified through training.
"In most cases, fear in dogs is a very common cause of aggression," Rodgers said. "The owner could have been disciplining it or using punishment that caused aggression to escalate."
Rodgers said Willey's earlier brushes with the law over dogs indicated a problem. "If there are ... citation for a vicious dog, obviously it falls on the owner's shoulders," she said. "She could have had a dog that was a high risk pet and put herself in harm's way."
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