'One of a kind' woman dies after being attacked by 'pack of dogs'

Tributes have been paid to a woman with a “heart of gold” after she was tragically killed in an attack bya pack of dogs just yards away from her own family.

Priscilla Jones, 44, was “attacked and severely injured by a pack of dogs roaming the area” in Flat Lick, Kentucky, in the US, according to police. In a news release, the Knox County Sheriff's Department said Priscilla was heard “screaming for help” by a woman who knew her during the awful attack on August 29.

She was found by the East Knox Fire Department (EKFD) "suffering life-threatening injuries" and "unable to communicate." The Barbourville Police Department (BPD) and the local sheriff’s office also responded to the scene.

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Priscilla was taken by emergency responders to the Barbourville ARH Hospital close by. It was here the "succumbed to her injuries" and declared dead, police said.

Prisiclla’s shocked and grieving husband Johnny Smith said he and their two children saw her lying in a grassy field after noticing that there were emergency services in the area.

"I seen the ambulance and the cops going up in there and then I got worried. I went up there just being nosy I guess, I went up through there and there she is," Johnny said to NBC affiliate Lex18.

Johny said he was surprised a pack of dogs could cause so much damage, and thinks “the first blow to the back of the neck” was lethal to his partner. An investigation into the death is ongoing, cops said. Police have been searching for the dogs involved in the attack.

The owner of the dogs that attacked Priscilla could now face charges, according to Knox County Sheriff Mike Smith. “In Kentucky you do have an obligation to control and confine your animals so we’re looking at all aspects of this situation and will determine that as the investigation continues,” he told Fox 56 News.

According to Lex18, he also said: “A neighbor that lived approximately 150 yards from this lady had contacted dispatch and said that she had been attacked by several dogs. Didn't give us the exact number but said several dogs close to her residence right there.”

Priscilla was a “one-of-a-kind” person who had a “heart of gold”, according to her sister Peggy Jones. “[She would] do anything in the world to help anybody if she could,” Peggy said to Fox 56.

Peggy also said her sister was found lying on the ground without clothes. She says this raises questions around her sister’s death.

“I just don’t feel like that was the cause of her death,” she said. “Yes, the dogs may have bit her, chewed on her, gnawed on her—whatever. But what led to that?”

A similar death was investigated by Kentucky State Police in May.