Texas caregiver, 59, attacked and killed by pack of feral hogs outside home of elderly couple she looked after
A pack of feral hogs reportedly attacked and killed a woman outside an Anahuac, Texas home where she was working as a caretaker for an elderly couple, authorities said.
The 84-year-old woman Christine Rollins cared for was waiting for her to arrive on Sunday, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne revealed on Monday. It was then that she went outside, only to find the 59-year-old laying in the front yard between her car and front door, CBS News reports.
Rollins was found to have a severe head wound and several other injuries consistent with animal bites, Hawthorne said. The caretaker had bled to death after being attacked by a pack of feral hogs, the coroner in neighboring Jefferson County ruled on Monday.
"There were a lot of things related to the death that didn't add up. Some of it were animal bites," Hawthorne told a press conference Monday. "My detectives and the criminal investigation team felt like [feral hogs] was what it was but we couldn't come close to announcing until we had the cause of death from the medical examiner's office."
"I don't want to go into detail, but, in my 35 years, I will tell you it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen," he added.
Hawthorne had said in an initial statement on Sunday that police did not have a reason to believe foul play was involved.
"It looked like she had got out of her car and locked it and she was making her way to the front door when these animals came along," he said.
According to the sheriff, wild hogs are a real problem in the region. Several neighbors have complained of the wild animals tearing up their front yards.
In order to tackle the situation, the sheriff's office even tried to put traps to capture some of the hogs.
While some people initially suspected dogs to have caused Rollins' death as several roam freely in the area, Hawthorne noted all evidence pointed to feral hogs.