Demarcus “Sam” McKenzie II, 27, of Skipperville, was killed by a dog pack.
Man Killed by Dogs
Skipperville, AL - What began as a murder investigation on Saturday, turned into a fatal dog mauling, according to Sheriff Mason Bynum of the Dale County Sheriff's Office. Authorities initially thought that that 27-year old Demarcus “Sam” McKenzie II, of Skipperville, died due to a gunshot wound to the head. After obtaining a search warrant, and reviewing outside surveillance footage, however, McKenzie is seen leaving "the residence" when multiple dogs began attacking him.
Ozark-Dale County E911 received a call at approximately 9:15 am Saturday morning of an unresponsive man in the 5500 block of County Road 33 in the Skipperville, Ozark community, Sheriff Bynum said. When deputies arrived, they found McKenzie lying dead in the driveway. His body was turned over to the Dale County Coroner's Office and transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for an autopsy. Ozark police assisted in the investigation.
"When investigators arrived and began processing the scene it initially appeared that the victim suffered a gunshot wound to his head. As investigators and a crime scene technician processed the victim and collected statements from witnesses there were some inconsistencies and a lack of physical evidence to support those initial thoughts." - Sheriff Mason Bynum, Dale County Sheriff’s Office
The attack began with one dog, then several more joined in, causing McKenzie to trip and fall at the end of his driveway. Up to six dogs are seen violently attacking McKenzie as he struggled to stand. "Late Saturday night, I met with the victim’s mother and family and provided them with our findings," Sheriff Bynum told media outlets. The Dale County Sheriff's Office will consult with the Dale County District Attorney's Office as the investigation progresses, Sheriff Bynum said.
This isn't the first time authorities suspected a homicide via gunshot injuries to the head, which turned out to be a fatal dog attack instead. The two other two victims were also African American men and were killed by the same dogs 2.5 months apart. In that case, in Mississippi, police did not connect the dots that both men discovered in nearby ditches were killed by dogs until after the second victim. That dog owner was eventually found guilty on two counts of manslaughter.
Discrepancies that currently exist include McKenzie's home. Some reports say he was exiting his home when the dogs attacked, and another report states he was "was exiting the residence" where he had been "present inside the home prior to the incident." It's also unknown who owns the dogs involved, and which witnesses provided inconsistent statements. Finally, there was also surveillance footage, which is relatively uncommon, especially for a home in a rural area.
Back in March, close to the 5500 block of County Road 33, a pack of three loose dogs broke into a fenced-in yard and "killed one of our cats, a possum, and my dad's two rabbits," according to Elizabeth Dobbs, who lives in or around Summerville Road, which is southwest of the fatal attack location. She also knows the victim and reposted a post 17 hours ago titled, #Justiceforsam. At that time, Dobbs and other local residents thought McKenzie had been shot and murdered.
Autopsy Results
On August 2, autopsy results confirmed that McKenzie was killed by dogs. The official cause of McKenzie's death of was "sharp force trauma" caused by the dogs, according to Sheriff Bynum. Authorities confiscated ten dogs on the property and euthanized them. "With cooperation from the homeowner, we did get an order from the courts, and the homeowner did consent to us taking possession of the dogs, and those dogs have already been euthanized," Sheriff Bynum said.
The loose, attacking dog pack in March includes at least one pit bull and a mixed-breed dog.
The area of the fatal dog attack and where a dog pack killed multiple animals in March 2023.
Related articles:
03/01/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Dog Pack Kills 74-Year Old Man in Jefferson County, Alabama
01/20/23: 2022 Dog Bite Fatality: Public Health Employee Killed by Pack of Dogs in Alabama...
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
Thank you for reporting this, Colleen. I hope the dogs and their owners or previous owners will be found. The woman who posted about loose dogs on Facebook believed there was no leash law in that area.
May Demarcus’s loved ones find peace.
So, this man was attacked by “up to six dogs”, yet the police who responded said he died by a gunshot wound to the head? I would think that 6 dogs would leave a lot more damage than they could mistake for a gunshot wound, wouldn’t they?
I am sorry for the family of the two men. THIS is why neutering a dog and keeping them confined is important and responsible dog owners make sure the measures are taken. People who just dump dogs and leave them are so ignorant they don’t understand groups of strays form packs and this can be the result.
It appears to us that police were told by witnesses he had been shot, but after police investigated and examined the body, they realized this was not true. Unlike the Mississippi case, police determined what happened after the first victim. No doubt because they had surveillance footage in the Alabama case. In the Mississippi case, family members and people nearby also thought both men had been beaten, shot and murdered. It is the untrained (non-police) eye that would most likely make this error.
“Please be careful if you see them” should be
“Please SHOOT if you see them”.
What a terrible way to die. My heart breaks for his family. Enough of this – someone must be held accountable. I can’t believe these deaths by pitbulls aren’t more publicized. It’s outrageous for something like this to happen in our country… and over and over again! Where is the anger and outrage?!
Hi Ashley I’m Irene his great aunt and yes someone must be held accountable and will
Enough. Dog pack attacks are way up, and they are always Pits, APBs, Bully XLs, Cane Corsos, Argentino’s & all part of the bull baiting, pit fighting lineage or they are mixes that include that. We can arrest every one of the “bad owners” after the fact but it won’t stop it.
The Pit Bull Cult members will keep saying these are nanny dogs who don’t deserve their reputation, but it is justified, it is in their DNA to attack for no reason & not stop until the victim is dead or they are. No other dog does this. You can’t “bad owner” or train a greyhound or beagle to behave like that.
No matter how much you want to love / cuddle them, the idea that you have to be careful, you have to be the alpha, you have to muzzle them in public or confine them, as if they escape they’ll kill, or they’ll kill their owners or their children, means they must be eliminated.
Either the laws get passed to neuter / spay all of the puppies, seize and put down any found that are bred after the ban (jailing the breeders) these good people have to arm themselves and shoot on site, any Pit approaching them unleashed, or any of these rogue packs seen wandering.
Keep an aluminum bat in your vehicle, use it as a walking stick, or near the front door if you can’t to carry. If this gentleman couldn’t just walk outta his front door without being killed by six of them, we have to start killing them back if we want streets to be safe to walk on, or just to walk in our own yard.
My two managers where I work do nothing but talk about their man-biting rescue pit bulls. Yes, they’ve bit someone already. But it’s not the dogs fault and it’s not her fault. Pit owners are the most utterly *stupid and ignorant about dogs* people I’ve ever seen.
This man looked young and strong and still didn’t stand a chance. My friends who live rurally practice Shoot, Shovel, Shut up.
I wonder if we will ever find out who owned the dogs.
If the gunshot wound story came from the owner of the dogs I hope they are charged with lying to the police.
What a horrible way to go.
A video linked to from this page has a statement from the police that doesn’t clearly say so but implies that the owner of the home that Sam was visiting was the owner of the dogs.
Yes he are the owners of the dogs
Most of this news is fake. He did not live at the residence. He was called up there to the residence. Those dogs was not wild dogs. They owned them dogs. The owners of the home should be held accountable. Justice has not been served.This was my brother in law. And he did not stay up there. He stayed with his mom and sister.It’s a lot of lies being made? The police say it was no reports from anyone or their animals getting bite by the dogs. They had looked. But on here it states the lady had made a police report? Sounds fishy to me!!The police also did not talk to the Mother of Sam Demarcus McKenzie, they only talk to the suspects.The family wants justice to be served in this case! We are hurting and missing him. It’s no valid reasons that the case should have been closed this quick. And they should have went over previous footage prior to that day to validate if these were so called wild dogs.
This Rhonda Whigham Demarcus McKenzie mother the owner and the girlfriend was looking for him the night before and that Saturday morning my baby is gone of us They MURDER him and Dale County Sheriff and District Attorneys are lies