58-year-old Public Health Worker Mauled To Death By Pack Of Dogs

Jacqueline Summer Beard

A 58-year-old Alabama Department of Health employee died after she was mauled to death by a pack of dogs while she was following up on another attack earlier carried out by the same dogs.

Jacqueline Summer Beard, 58, was mauled on Sunday, May 1, while she was attempting to contact the dogs’ owner, Brandy Dowdy, to investigate a canine attack reported to Franklin County Animal Control.

She never returned from the investigation and deputies responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the area around 6 p.m. Sunday, cops said.

When police arrived, the dogs also attacked several residents in the area. One resident received minor injuries, police said.

There were seven dogs in total, Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver told AL.com.

Some of the dogs were "euthanized immediately," the sheriff’s office said.

Officers found Beard at the scene and she was pronounced dead by the Franklin County coroner.

She worked as an environmentalist supervisor for the Alabama Department of Public Health and had been with the department for nearly 17 years according to the ADPH.

Dog owner, Dowdy, 39, was later arrested for manslaughter under the state’s dangerous dog law, according to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department.

She is being held at the Franklin County Jail with no bail set, records show.

In the earlier attack, Dowdy’s dogs attacked a woman walking along a highway, according to WAYY.  She was taken to a hospital in Tupelo, Mississippi, before she was transferred to a hospital in Jackson, Mississippi.

The woman's condition is "pretty serious" and she remains hospitalized.