George Martin, 41-years old, was discovered dead after being attacked by a dog in June.
Death Investigation
Anderson, MO - A 41-year old man was discovered dead in a ditch after being attacked by a dog. A person contacted police after discovering his body on June 25. Police Chief David Abbott said the body was located about 20 feet inside city limits in front of 100 Lindsay Lane. Officers identified him as 41-year old George Alan Martin. Multiple bite marks were found on his body and pieces of his clothing were found outside of city limits, indicating he tried to run from the dog.
McDonald County Coroner William B.J. Goodwin said the bite injuries were deep, but were not fatal. Goodman said the size of the bite marks indicate it was a large dog. The exact cause of death is still being investigated. Results from a toxicology report are not expected for weeks. The victim's brother, Joseph Martin, told KOAM that he's not convinced the dog did not kill him. "The coroner's report said it was clearly a dog attack that ultimately caused his death," Martin said.
The KOAM news report came two weeks after his death. Currently, police have no conclusive evidence about the dog involved. George leaves behind four children, according to his obituary.
A 41-year old man was discovered dead in a ditch after being attacked by a dog in late June.
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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.
If someone is mauled by a dog and cannot get assistance, even if they could have been saved–the dog killed them.
This is equivalent to shooting someone then leaving them in a forest to die. The shooter is still guilty of murder even though the victim may have survived if they had access to medical intervention.
The big question is…where is the dog and who, if anyone, owns it?
RIP George. I hope the dog is found before it mauls anyone else to death or near-death.
i know right! that was exactly what i thought when i read that part-and i say shame on that coroner for even trying to tip-toe around that by stating things the way he did-obviously that coroner is a huge coward-yeah he didn’t die from the bites he died from all the blood loss caused by the bites, blood loss to vital oragans lack of oxygen to the brain-and things of this nature-always the same song
I found this this troubling ” McDonald County Coroner William B.J. Goodwin said the bite injuries were deep, but were not fatal.”
If that’s the case why is Mr. Martin doing a great corpse impression right now?
I haven’t been to coroner school or anything but if a large dog or dogs filled this guy full of holes and kept him on the ground until he passed out he would bleed out and die.
I think calling bites that killed someone “nonfatal” is insane. There is a huge difference between “potentially survivable with prompt medical treatment” and non fatal.
Or put another way, if they were non fatal, why is he dead? What killed him?
Even if he had a heart attack it would be reasonable to say it was brought on by the stress of being mauled by a dog. If I rob a store with a plastic gun and the clerk has a heart attack and dies, I committed murder. In most states so did my get away driver.
Does this coroner call gun shot wounds in dead bodies “non fatal” if in theory prompt medical attention could have saved them?
There are not many GSWs that are not treatable if the docs get you soon enough. However shootings outside of staffed operating rooms are pretty rare so many people die from potentially survivable GSWs. Those are not called “non fatal”.
He could not run away from the dog, nor could anybody else run away from the dog. He could not fight off the dog with his fist and with his feet by punching it in the nose or kicking it in the nose, nor could anybody else. It wasn’t one or two small bites. It wasn’t one or two medium bites. It wasn’t one or two big bites. It was lots of big bites while he was attempting to run away from it. When there are no witnesses, the Dangerous Canine Society will always blame the victim. When there are witnesses, the Dangerous Canine Society that we are totally immersed in will blame the victim. If he were successful in defending himself against the loose predatory dangerous animal that fatally attacked him, he would be facing prison time for animal cruelty. Because he attempted to refuse to make a perfect sacrificial offering of his flesh and blood to the Almighty Dog, our evil society will blame him. Will this case or millions of cases of the very young and the old being severely mauled by dangerous canines move the needle one scintilla in favor of the future victims? No. The only thing that moves the needle in favor of future victims is obeying the Boy Scout motto.
If they’ve bothered taking DNA swabs of the bites then they might have a chance of identifying the dog. It’s not clear to me that the people in investigating this death are competent to do so.
McDonald County Coroner William B.J. Goodwin is an elected official who appears to own a funeral home (as often many coroners are) and not a medical examiner. Does anyone know if coroners have the power to use their own surmised cause of death if it does not match the medical report of the forensic pathologist? If this happens, this family needs to see who is connected to the dogs and connected to the undertaker coroner.
This coroner is very unprofessional and has a link for his undertaker business right on the local government website. Basically, he is using the .gov website to advertise his private enterprise and drive traffic to it:
https://mcdonaldcountymo.gov/coroner/
Good catch Christy. The free advert? Just Wow.
Unqualified coroners are one of the the banes of the legal system.
If this man’s family has any available cash, much as it is unfair–they need to open a private investigation including DNA swabbing and autopsy.
Sadly, when it comes to incompetent coroners, those with the most money…win.
I notice pitbull owners often are egregiously neglectful in cutting their dogs’ toenails but I’m pretty sure there’s a big difference between big cat claws and dog nails.
This is terrifying. I sure hope the local cops are doing everything to find the dog that did this. Rest in Peace to this man, and prayers to his family.
How is this not a story making the national news?! The public should hear about this. People should be armed to protect themselves against dangerous dogs. Everyone should be outraged over this.
The simple reason is this:
Dog Worship
It’s why dogs — and the damage they do — get so little publicity.
When I was growing up the only other family near us raised pitbulls. Any kind of animal coming down the road was grabbed by the neck and pulled into the ditch and killed by the male. I know from experience how ditches come into play. Terrifying.
I doubt a ‘big cat’ attack would look like a dog attack? Plus I’m going to guess that a ‘big cat’ attack would be a lot rarer than a pet dog attack? While some dog breeds (like pitbulls) have longish, sharp claws, they are nothing compared to a large cats, which can shred a persons clothes and skin clean off with their razor sharp claws alone… the difference in attacks would be instantly noticeable
yuo r right! a mountain lion attack will never look anything like a dog attack-wild cats kill by suffocation they will clamp down on the prey’s neck until it is dead then they will usually drag it by its neck or head to where it will start to eat it-they dont do the thrashing around and all that unnecessary stuff that is often times bred-for behavior or more common in pack animals
just about all info on pit bulls in main stream media
is straight out lies and infuriating but when they try to blame on a cat -that’s ridiculous-i dont know if the ppl reporting such nonsense is just ignorance or if they know exactly that they r lying but no person writing info to be read by the public should be excused for ignorance on a subject they r writing about-that makes media worse than worthless-it makes it harmful
So has any investigation been done for this man’s death? I would like to know about any follow up. Did they find any dogs?
Who is responsible for this tragedy?