Updated: California woman dead from apparent dog attack

Update: 8/17:

Donna at BAD RAP provides some thoughts after talking to the husband. Sadly, it appears unlikely that we will ever figure out the circumstances that led up to this tragedy, although Donna alludes to one possibility.

Update 8/15:

According to the preliminary coroner's report, it has been confirmed that Darla Napora died of blood loss and shock, and it is confirmed that the dog, Gunner, was the only dog responsible for the attack.

Update 8/13:

Some new reports are saying the dog being blamed for the attack was a 125 lbs dog named Gunner. That weight would be something very far removed from the typical 'pit bull type' dog which usually weigh around 50 lbs or so, and even very large ones seldom get larger than 80 lbs.

The story has now been picked up by more than 200 media outlets around the country.

Original Text:

There isn't a lot of information on this attack...and if some information comes available I will updated this post.

Yesterday, 32 year old Darla Napora was found dead in her home -- apparently killed by one of her pet dogs.  Napora's husband Greg came home and found his wife, who was 6 months pregnant.  There were two dogs in the home, both described as "pit bulls", but it is believed that only one was involved in the attack -- a 2 year old unneutered male.

Again, there isn't much more information than this....but if some becomes available, we'll certainly provide an update.

The story has been picked up by nearly 100 media outlets already this morning, including several national media outlets.

Comments

[YesBiscuit!]

Oh no - extra sad. With so many outlets picking up the story, you'd think someone would get some basic info on what the hell happened. I'll be checking back for an update.

[Brent]

I'm not sure anyone really knows. This isn't uncommon on situations where no one actually sees the attack. Good investigators may be able to recreate the scenerio. This is a pretty unusual case with a young, seemingly healthy victim in an upscale neighborhood....I do hope we find out the story.

[Tonya]

This makes me sick to my stomach. My heart goes out to the family. I live in CA, own an 8 mo Amstaff and these stories shake me up so bad. Will we ever REALLY know what happened? It appears that they were in the house...family dog?

[Donna]

The family has avoided blaming the dog, and forensics experts are busy with both autopsy and necropsy. Through the grapevine, it's said to be a very large mixed breed type of dog, but we haven't seen photos yet. Nor does breed type matter as you know - except to the media. It'll always be a pit bull now that the ink's dry. One bit of good news Brent - I see more people than ever before questioning the *circumstances* behind this incident, and have to credit all the education work folks like you have done to help us all understand hard-to-fathom tragedies like these.

[Brent]

Donna - I have noticed that too with many of the media reports...it's been good to see them talking about authorities trying to figure out the circumstances behind the incident....

[kmk]

Hey, put me in the "this just seems bizarre" category.

More and more I find myself looking at dog related fatalities and attacks and saying to myself.....WTH?

It seems as though every time I read about a dog related fatality anymore it's just a strange story.

[Brent]

That's because these literally are the 1 in 2 million type of incidents...so yes, they're all strange.

[kmk]

Yes, Brent, you have a point - EXCEPT, there was a time when dog related fatalities didn't seem as...mysterious?

For example - back in the early 90s a young boy was killed by an Akita. the Akita was inside a fence and this boy and his friends had been throwing rocks at the dog and teasing the dog. The kid fell over the fence, the dog killed the kid. End of story. Not too much there that's mysterious. Liberal had a pit bull ban. Of course.

It just seems as though we're seeing fewer of those types of fatalities and more of the bizarre variety, like the pregnant woman allegedly being killed in her house by her own dog?

I hope I'm making sense.

[Dan]

The husband, who has fully cooperated with the probe, reported that the 125-pound Gunner stood over his wife's body before he dragged the dog into another part of the home, investigators said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/12/BAR51KMV1V.DTL#ixzz1UsZMzG9I

[Brent]

KMK -- I hear ya. It seems as if most still fit into the "you could see it comin' a mile away" category, but there are 2-3 a year that just don't fit...this appears to be one of them.

Dan - -Thanks for the link. 125 lbs? Pit bull? Those don't particularly add up.

[Zbyszek]

People now have a lot of large black dogs to defend their own terenu.Ich origin and race is not possible to identify. For the media, of course, is a Pit Bull, they know best.

[selkie]

umm, no pit bull, even the big ones would be 125lbs - amazing how ignorant the media can be -and call me jaded, but I'll be interested to see the results of the autopsy for both woman and dog - there is a part of me that is like, this is a great way to cover up a murder....

[Brent]

At this point it doesn't sound as if there is much of a chance that foul play was involved....I think and hope we'll find out a lot more in the coming weeks.

[kmk]

Good grief, I'd have to glue three of my dogs together to make a 125 pound pit bull! Most of mine have fallen into the 38 to 44 pound category. I did have one rescue that weighed 57 pounds (and she was as soft as butter).

This is very sad - and just bizarre.

[Dianne]

Can we remind the media that the breed standard for Am Staffs and APBT is 30 to 60 lbs? Not that breed matters, but sounds more like Presa Canare or Cane Corso. Circumstances are what matters.

[Tonya]

Local newspaper, Press Enterprise in Riverside stated today that authorities have not ruled out that the dog had rabies. Ok....but its still a 125 lb pitbull...yea right, not @ 125lbs!

[Eilleen Eastman]

I have read more information that says the woman fell off a ladder and hit her head. The dog did not maul her rather he tried to nudge her to get her to get up or wake up. Once again the rush to judge "pit bulls" by uninformed and uneducated media people. It is just more tabloid journalism.

[Lori S.]

So far, the only report of the victim falling off a ladder that I've seen was in an examiner.com article. I believe those articles are written my novice "reporters" and often contain so much opinion/bias that I just don't consider them a reliable source. (I've found that it seems in pit bull stories, because they are often written by advocates, the bias seems to be in favor of pit bulls and tend to not include enough referenced facts.)

[Brent]

Agreed Lori.

[kmk]

If this were a "Lifetime" movie the husband would have killed her because he was having an affair with the wife's best friend, and then tried to make the dog look guilty. :-)

[kmk]

Dianne - good point about the size of the dog. I've also read reports about a 'large mixed breed'.

[Jacky]

wow, i'm glad i'm here with more sane people. I tried my hardest to argue some of these points the day AFTER this happened. Unfortunately the SFgate "forum" was ready to burn a witch. People are ready to blame a dog without real facts, and I blame the writers of the article for helping feed the flame. I did email the reporters and let them know that the dogsbite.org was not a credible source. I also reminded them that a pitbull does not weight 125lbs. Education doesn't seem to be prominent around here. I hope they find an answer that makes more sense, because this story doesn't sound right at all.

[Zbyszek]

According to American law, 12 kg Bull Terrier English Stafford is a Pit Bull and 80 kg dog is a Pit Bull. For abbreviations, but for the purpose.

[kmk]

Now they're reporting the male dog did indeed kill the 32 year old Darla Napora.

http://fostercity.patch.com/articles/coroner-prelim-autopsy-results-show-pit-bull-responsible-for-this-attack

The female dog was exonerated and returned to Napora's husband.

http://millbrae.patch.com/articles/female-pit-bull-released-to-husband-of-mauling-victim

Darla Napora died of blood loss and shock from dog bites.

What in the world happened here?

Thanks to Jodi Preis and her fightBSL list for keeping us updated.

[Brent]

Yip -- I've updated the post. It seems like an absolute tragedy...and less and less likely that we ever really know what led to this.