Investigators: Woman killed after attacked by multiple dogs in Cullman County

CULLMAN COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) - Investigators in Cullman County are trying to figure out how and why a woman was killed by her neighbor’s dogs over the weekend.

“They can’t dig through it. There are boards all around it. They couldn’t chew through it. It’s a metal fence,” the dogs owner said while describing a fence in his yard.

So how did multiple dogs get out of the fence and attack a woman on May 22? The dogs owner isn’t quite sure.

“It’s a mystery. How did they get out,” asked the man.

The owner, who doesn’t want us to reveal his identity, said all the commotion outside woke him up around 2:30 a.m. That’s when he saw the dogs attacking his neighbor 57-year-old Ronda Persall just off County Road 1030 in the Jones Chapel community.

“She was laying over here beside the car and the dogs had surrounded her and they were biting her. I picked her up out of them. They started biting on me. I took her and put her in the thing and I asked her if she was ok. She said ‘baby I’m ok, but I’m hurting,’” the man said.

The man has scratches on his leg. He tried rushing his neighbor to the hospital, but it was too late. Persall died a short time later, according to Cullman County Coroner Jeremy Kilpatrick.

“I don’t know man. It traumatized the smoke out of me,” the owner of the dogs said.

The dogs owner tells us he ended up shooting and killing at least 12 dogs which he describes as yard dogs. Cullman County’s Animal Control Director, who was at the scene Monday says two lab mixed dogs were pulled off Persall. We’re told some of those dogs were sent off to be tested.

Meanwhile, the man, who was good friends with Persall, is devastated. Here’s how he describes his longtime friend.

“She had a few oddities. She was eccentric I guess you’d call her, but she was good as gold. She may cut her crass with a pair of scissors, but she was a sweet heart. She wasn’t no mean lady at all. She didn’t deserve it,” the man said.

We still don’t know what led up to this deadly attack. Cullman County’s Animal Control is investigating. The director tells us it could take a little while to try and figure out what exactly happened.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE WBRC FOX6 NEWS APP

Subscribe to our WBRC newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email.

Copyright 2022 WBRC. All rights reserved.