Mary Matthews Waynesville, Ohio woman killed by two Great Dane dogs the animal lover rescued two years earlier. Drinking and prescription medication woes may have contributed to her death.
A pair of Great Danes killed an Ohio woman afflicted with dependency issues who kept the rescued animals despite her husband’s repeated objections a report has told.
Mary Matthews, 49, was found dead Friday in her Waynesville home by her husband, Dale Mark Matthews, some two years after she rescued the aggressive dogs, the Dayton Daily News reports.
‘I never wanted Great Danes but she wanted to rescue them,’ Matthews said. ‘She loved animals so I let her get them. I probably should have put my foot down and said no, obviously.’
Matthews said he was bitten by one of the ‘violent’ dogs last month, leading him to worry that someone else could be attacked one day.
‘Usually when the dogs got aggressive with her, I would just discipline them and put them outside but I wasn’t here,’ Matthews said. ‘They would get in fights with each other. They would take it out on her if I wasn’t around.’
Too out of it to realize extent of her injuries:
The Warren County Coroner’s Office said Matthews suffered multiple dog bites and apparently bled to death from her injuries WLWT reports.
Police believe she may not have realized the severity of her injuries and there was evidence that she had changed her clothing as well as attempted to clean up blood flowing from her cuts with towels.
Matthews found his wife unresponsive after being released from the Warren County Jail earlier that day.
‘She was laying on the bathroom floor,’ he said. ‘She had enough strength to get them out the back door, but she barely made it back to the bathroom.’
It wasn’t immediately clear how or why the man came to be in prison, as of Wednesday.
Police also found that a chunk of flesh was missing from the victim’s ankle, WKRC reports.
Victim started most mornings drinking and taking prescription medicines.
Blood was found throughout the home, including on the couch where investigators recovered another piece of flesh. ‘Numerous’ beer cans and medication bottles were also strewn about the living room and kitchen, cops said.
Matthews told police that his wife started most mornings by drinking beer and taking ‘numerous’ prescription medications, NBC News reports. The medication may have preempted the woman from reacting in a more timely manner.
‘Due to this history, it is felt that (Mary Matthews) may not have been in a clear-minded state to judge the severity of her situation and thus failed to call for help,’ the police report said.
But there’s more.
An officer who previously responded to the home for a possible overdose found the Great Danes in an enclosed deck at the couple’s Clearcreek Township home that was covered in feces so badly that the ‘actual deck could not be seen,’ according to a police report.
The dogs were euthanized on Saturday.
Mary Matthews preliminary cause of death has been listed as ‘attacked by dogs.’
The case remains under investigation.
