Dog Attack Possible Cause in Man's Death

By Sandy Mauck, Martin Weil

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

A 20-year-old man was found dead in a house in Leesburg on Monday, and town police said they would investigate whether two “pit bull type” dogs found there might have killed him.

Officer Chris Jones, a police spokesman, said that he did not want to speculate on the cause of the man’s death but that a dog attack was “one possibility which is under investigation.”

The man’s name was not released, and Jones said he had no information about any wounds to the man’s body. He said a determination of the cause of death would await the findings of an autopsy.

Neighbors said they had heard that the man had been attacked by the dogs, but Jones said such assertions were speculation.

As of Monday evening, he said, the death was being categorized as “suspicious.”

The man was found by police who were sent to a house in the 100 block of Plaza Street NE to check on an occupant at the request of a relative.

Officers learned of the presence of the dogs and sent for Loudoun County animal control personnel, Jones said.

They “were able to secure” two dogs that appeared to be pit bulls, he said.

Authorities then found the man’s body on a lower level of the house. The body of a small dog, which did not appear to be a pit bull, was found nearby, Jones said.

A fourth dog was found unharmed in a cage.

The two pit bulls were taken to the county’s animal shelter and will be tested, Jones said.

Given the circumstances, there was “a concern” among neighbors that the pit bulls had something to do with the man’s death, Jones said, but “we don’t want to speculate too soon.”

It was not clear Monday evening how long the man had been dead or whether he lived at the house where he was found.

However, Jones said, he was “somehow connected” to the house, possibly as a relative of the occupants.

Calls asking police to check on the man began about 2 p.m. Monday, Jones said.

He said a relative had been trying to get in touch with the man but received no response to efforts to reach him by telephone or by going to the door.

Residents of the street, which is near Leesburg police headquarters and routes 7 and 15, two main arteries in eastern Loudoun, expressed surprise at the scene.

A woman in one house said a neighbor came to the door to make certain that children she was supervising were indoors.

Staff writer Tom Jackman contributed to this report.

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