Beverly Hayden, 89, was killed by a family pit bull in Cass County, Indiana.
Sheriff's Press Release
Cass County, IN - An 89-year old woman is dead after being mauled by her own pit bull, according to the Cass County Sheriff's Office. Deputies were dispatched to the south 200 block of County Road 400 West at about 5:49 am for a report of a woman attacked by her own dog. Arriving responders found the woman in the living room of her residence. She was pronounced dead at the scene by Cass County Coroner George Franklin. She was identified as 89-year old Beverly Hayden of Logansport.
A family member was present at the time but could not stop the attack. Her 100 pound pit bull fled the residence after the attack. "The dog is described as a one-hundred-pound black pit bull with a white chest," states the Cass County Sheriff's Office press release. "The dog was not wearing a collar. A large-scale search, which include a Logansport Police Drone was conducted around the area to locate the dog to no avail." Authorities remind the public to "not approach the animal on your own."
Death Under Investigation by Cass County AuthoritiesFirst responders were called to the south 200 block of County Road 400 West in Cass County at approximately 5:49 am on December 6 for an elderly female that had been attacked by her dog. Arriving units located an 89-year-old female in the living room of her residence. The female was pronounced deceased at the scene by Cass County Coroner George Franklin.
Investigators found Beverly Hayden had been attacked in her living room by her one-hundred-pound pit bull dog. A family member was present but unable to prohibit the attack. After the attack, the dog escaped the residence and is still loose in the area. The dog is described as a one-hundred-pound black pit bull with a white chest. The dog was not wearing a collar. A large-scale search which include a Logansport Police Drone was conducted around the area to locate the dog to no avail.
Agencies assisting the Cass County Sheriff's Office were the Logansport Police Department, Cass County Animal Control, Cass County EMS and the Cass County Coroner's Office.
The next of kin have been notified.
This is an on-going investigation and no foul play is suspected. If anyone locates the dog, they are asked to immediately call 911 to report the animal so that animal control can respond to capture the dog. Please do not approach the animal on your own. - Sheriff Ed Schroder, December 6, 2023
WRTV initially published a photograph of the dog, "Oden," then removed it. The photo was originally shared by Kylie Hayden. Several hours ago, she updated the post to say, "DOG FOUND! Thank you to everyone for the prayers and help! Update: comments are turned off due to one-sided opinions. Please respect our family as we mourn and try to take care of our family." Thus, after a family pit bull killed her relative, family members are not interested in hearing about the pros or cons of pit bulls as pets.
The Cass County Sheriff's Office issued a press release after a pit bull killed a family member.
Typical responses after a family pit bulls kills a family member. Ron Hayden - "Too all the people who dont know their ass from a hole in the ground This is the killer dog they dont know and shouldnt run their pie hole about." Travis Hayden - "he was a lover not a killer if you don’t know the story of what happened then mind your own business they loved each other dearly."
View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Indiana Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.Related articles:
05/10/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Marion County Deputy Killed by Violent Dog, Her Son Injured...
11/19/21: 2021 Dog Bite Fatality: Grandmother Killed by Family Pit Bull in Matthews, Indiana
07/01/20: 2020 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bull Attacks, Kills Owner in Jeffersonville, Indiana
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.
I gasped when I read the dog’s weight. 89-year-old lady with a 100-lb. pit bull?! Elderly people become more fragile with age. Brittle bones, thin skin. They bruise easily. Why would anyone think a large dog would be good for them? A small, gentle lap dog would be a much better choice. One that couldn’t harm or kill them. Absolutely horrendous and heartbreaking story!
Or no dog at all. At advanced ages, people are prone to falls, and small dogs are very easy to trip over.
As for large dogs, my parents’ final dog was a Labrador retriever. It was way too much dog for them, and it also bared its teeth and growled at me. Suffice it to say that I was relieved when it finally died.
Tripping hazard is why *all* dogs should be trained to “move” when told. It’s not hard to do.
Even if you don’t see them, if you say “Move” when you get up, the dog should be moving away.
Good luck with that. My mother used to say that very thing, and the dogs would ignore her. Lucky her, she never fell, but she came close.
That is why I say NO dog at all if the owner is on in years.
There’s got to be more to this story. 89 yr old people generally don’t go out and get a dog, esp one like this. My money’s on it was the relative’s dog but they didn’t have anywhere to live…
A friend of the family said( on Facebook) that the savage beast belonged to the victims grandson. The mother of the grandson is the victims daughter and was the person present when the savage attack happened. The grandson has pictures of the beast on his FB page.
How many pitbull fatalities are we up to so far this year? 50? 60? It certainly seems even more than last year. That these dogs aren’t banned everywhere is beyond outrageous.
Authorities should have reminded the public to SHOOT ON SIGHT.
That brings up something I’ve been puzzling over.
From Kylie Hayden’s original FB posting, before the dog was found:
“If anyone sees this dog his name is Oden . Please contact 574-355-6662 or 574-870-0987 AND 911!!!! with the location so Oden can be taken in to be tested. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO APPROACH, PET & or PICK UP!!!!”
Surely the dog was not being sought just “to be tested” (the victim was dead). This is either an out-and-out lie — perhaps to mollify any “dog lover” who saw the dog and worried it might be euthanized if reported — or represents some serious delusion that the “pet” really was going to be rehabilitated in some way.
It seems like Kylie was deliberately leaving it ambiguous as to what danger the dog posed precisely to keep the dog from being harmed — when, clearly, a “shoot on sight” alarm would have been in order.
Lovely message on FB from the Grandson, owner of the savage beast. “my grandma had night terrors she woke up screaming and fell over the chair fell on her and hit both of them he went into defense mode thinking she was being attacked by the time he realized it was her the damage was done he loved her and he was sweet he didn’t have alpha in his life like his brothers do my dog don’t speak on something you don’t know the story about i don’t even need to explain it to someone like you bc obviously your mentally ill
Mother of mercy, is this the end of sanity?
Apparently.
Yes, from Travis. I will send it to you.
Oh…now I get it! Poor Oden thought grandma was being attacked by a chair. This is what insanity and poor grammar look like. God help us all.
The facebook comments made by the two male members of the Hayden family are incredibly ignorant. People like the Haydens refuse to understand these dogs are very dangerous and are tragedies waiting to happen.
So sad. Of course, the dog was not owned by grandmother. I suppose the relatives
lived with her and took care of her. The dog lived there too and was not kept in a safe place. I wonder why the dog took off after the killing. Why was he loose? Who was responsible for him?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10159427257995426&set=p.10159427257995426&type=3
A photo form the daughters fb page, comments on taking the kind words about their “loss”
SHE MOURN THEM BOTH !
What a denial !!!!
Thanks for the link. What are these people thinking when posting such a photo? It’s like featuring a big, smiling picture of Charles Manson at Sharon Tate’s funeral.
The dog “loved grandma as grandma loved him! He was startled.”
No sane person keeps an animal that can kill grandma.
Imagine living though all the hardships of life to be 90. Then you just want the occasional, not overly exciting visits of your kids, (however many you haven’t outlived, already) grandkids and great grandkids.
Everything aches but you carry on and do your best to get by and show all your descendants you love them. You’re looking forward to seeing all the relations and whatever friends might have survived with you, at Christmas.
Then you’re torn apart by a pitbull.
And now, every Christmas from now on, every person who loved you will be mourning that Mom/Grandma/Great Granny/Old Friend died in a preventable, horrific mauling.
Add in the insult that someone blamed on Granny for being old and falling out of bed thus what? Deserving to be shredded?
These people are delusional.
More delusional pit owners. I wish it was they that got eaten alive rather than the innocents around them.. That response by the grandson is classic denial pit apology mode after their beast has murdered a family member.
I’ll be on this list in a year two. I’m disabled and one of two of them stalks me. I’m tired of people worshiping these demon dogs.
I hope you can prevent an attack. You are aware of the danger and that helps.
Delusional and criminally deranged dog owners. The murder dog killed his grandmother and he’s defending the beast! No sense of responsibility at all for his being the cause of his grandmother’s awful death.
As for the known killer dog wandering loose in the neighborhood afterwards, it would be fitting if a kindly neighbor had made that pit disappear from the face of the earth. Save the taxpayers a ton of $$.
In those pictures of the victim and her killer together, the dog does not look like it’s a loving pet with its owner. The dog looks too alert, too whale-eyed, too dominant, with its head over the victim’s shoulder. That is not how a loving pet acts around a beloved owner. At the very least, its ears should be down and its posture “softened”.
That is exactly what is see in the pics as well and I also sensed that the woman didnt feel completely safe or comfortable in those poses
What blows my mind is that the Pit Bull owner/lover will make an excuse for one of these things literally ripping a baby, child or elder into body parts. “He was trying to protect her,” claims the grandson? No, he wasn’t, son. He was triggered by her somehow and went into ‘kill mode’. When these dogs snap into kill mode it is out of this world what they will do to attain the kill. They will try to kill horses, cattle, goats, and even rip vehicles apart.
No more excuses, pit bull apologists. These dogs are descended from dogs that were bred specifically for bull- and bear-baiting in Britain. Those genes do NOT die hard.
Pit Bulls tear car apart trying to get a cat: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-3158007/Video-Two-monstrous-pit-bulls-tear-car-trying-hiding-cat.html