The dogs did it.
An autopsy confirmed Tuesday two mastiffs were responsible for killing their 38-year-old owner in Rancho Mirage Monday night.
Riverside County Sheriff's officials said Hill Andrew Williams died of "significant physical trauma" he suffered in the attack by the dogs.
Riverside County Animal control said Williams may have interferred with dogs as they breeded.
The dogs were identified Tuesday afternoon as Ivory and Butter. Ivory was a 90-pound female and Butter weighed in at 115 pounds.
Williams was found near death in his backyard Monday afternoon at the rear of his home at 41625 Morningside Court. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The man's neighbors at 5:13 p.m. Monday called the Rancho Mirage Police Department, which is staffed by sheriff's deputies, and reported he was bleeding profusely in his backyard, said sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez.
Responding deputies found the body and two full-grown mastiffs in the backyard, he said, adding that each dog weighed more than 100 pounds and that the death, officially designated as "suspicious," was being investigated as a possible dog mauling.
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The dogs -- belonging to a breed known to be wary of strangers but fiercely protective of their owners -- were taken into custody by two animal control officers and brought to the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms.
"When an attack of this nature occurs, it's certainly a horrible tragedy," Welsh said Monday. "It's really a sad evening and definitely our hearts go out to the gentlemen's family."
A friend of the victim expressed shock in an interview with KESQ, saying the dogs "were pretty timid." A daughter of about 7, according to the friend, survives the man.
The friend also told the station he was the first person at the scene and he reported that the man had "severe wounds on his forearms."
Click on this url to see the Riverside County Department of Animal Serivices news release: http://www.rcdas.org/pr_articlespr_09-0317a.htm
