Pack of seven dogs maul woman while investigating earlier attack: Owner charged with manslaughter

An Alabama public health employee is dead after she was mauled by dogs while attempting to investigate a prior attack by those same dogs. 

Brandy Dowdy, 39, was arrested and charged with manslaughter after her dogs allegedly committed multiple attacks on local residents, including the deadly one Friday. She’s being held without bail, AL.com reports. 

Jacqueline Summer Beard, 58, was responding to a separate dog attack that had happened in the area just a day earlier. 

Beard arrived at the home along Route 11 in Alabama, about 120 miles east of Birmingham, on Friday morning.

That’s when Sheriff Shannon Oliver says those same exact dogs attacked and killed Beard.  

Authorities found her body while investigating on Crumpton Road after receiving reports of a suspicious vehicle near the residence at 6pm on Friday. 

Jacqueline Summer Beard, 58, was responding to a separate dog attack that had happened in the area just a day earlier

Beard arrived at the home along Route 11 in Alabama, about 120 miles east of Birmingham , on Friday morning

That’s when Sheriff Shannon Oliver says those same exact dogs attacked and killed Beard. Authorities found her body while investigating on Crumpton Road after receiving reports of a suspicious vehicle near the residence at 6 p.m. on Friday

When they got to the scene, those same dogs attacked again and Dowdy allegedly began attacking people, leaving one person with minor injuries. Dowdy was then arrested.

Oliver said there were seven dogs, some of which have already been euthanized. 

Beard had worked for the Alabama Department of Public Health for nearly 17 years and was most recently an environmentalist supervisor in multiple counties.  

‘The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) extends our deepest sympathy to the family, friends, and colleagues of Summer Beard, after her tragic passing,’ Ryan Easterling, the director of the ADPH’s Health Media and Communications Division, said in a statement. 

‘Summer was known to her coworkers as an exceptional person. She was a tremendous team worker and was loved by those who knew her,’ Easterling added. ‘It is a very sad day for ADPH, and we ask that everyone respect the privacy of the family during this most difficult time.’

The woman from the original dog attack remains hospitalized in Mississippi, according to Oliver.