canine attack
© Angela Antunes / CC by 2.0
An 88-year-old Pall Mall woman was mauled to death outside her home by a pack of six German Shepherds belonging to a neighbor.

Jill Peterson left her home Tuesday night to clear a drainage ditch overflowing from recent heavy rain. That's when the dogs attacked.

"They dragged her down the yard and all of her clothes were off, her shoes, everything. They tore all of her hair out, the casket can't be open, it's like a nightmare. It's hard to believe," Nina Brown, Peterson's sister, told Nashville CBS affiliate WTVF.




Brown said she tried to help her sister but couldn't, "Three of the dogs came after me. They started after me and I had to call 911."

Paramedics arrived but Peterson's injuries so severe that a helicopter airlifted the woman to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She later died at the hospital.

She died a short time after arriving to the hospital.

"Those dogs took my sister's life, it will be with me the rest of my life," Brown added.

She said the dogs, which have since been euthanized, belonged to a neighbor and District Attorney Bryant Dunaway said the owner face homicide charges.

"This is a very sad situation. Once we gather the facts we'll determine if there's criminal liability or not," Dunaway told WTVF.