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Columbia woman mauled to death by dog she recently adopted

Posted at 2:10 PM, Sep 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-05 14:25:01-04

It seemed like the perfect match, Susan LeClair thought, about her sister and her sister's brand new pit bull. 

64-year-old Robin Conway decided to foster the dog only two weeks ago. 

"...loved animals, all kinds of animals. I was the one that wimped out. She was the one who said, 'oh I'll take the fish off the hook," LeClair said. 

The family inside this Tamar Drive home thought nothing of it when Robin took her dog out for a routine walk Monday evening.

But as the sun started to go down and Robin didn't return, her husband looked out back. 

"She was in love with that dog. And she is in love with animals -- Robin. The dog, apparently, went after her," LeClair paused. "She was dead."

Howard County Police say the pit bull was standing over Robin's body -- the family, acting quickly, tied it to the backyard fence.

"Even its behavior at the scene after our first responders got there -- the dog was on a leash, but lunging and barking. They tried to subdue him and ultimately had to euthanize him," Sherry Llewellyn, a spokeswoman with the police department, said. 

Animal Control deemed the dog a danger both animals and humans, so it had to be put down. A grim conclusion to a budding relationship between Robin and her new dog. 

"They have been lovely, lovely dogs. It was obviously something wrong with this dog, but that's not to be construed as all pit bulls are bad and I know Robin wouldn't want that," LeClair said. 

A necropsy will be done to see if the dog had rabies or any other medical issues. 

No other incidents were reported involving this dog and police say they do not have any information about the dog's adoption, other than it was out-of-state. 

Police are conducting a standard death investigation and awaiting autopsy results to confirm the cause of Conway’s death.