A quick follow-up on the devastating story from Taylorsville:

In November, 63-year-old Sandra Dee Miller was in her own backyard in Taylorsville when she was attacked by two adult and five puppy Pitbulls.

When police arrived, they had to use pepper spray to get the dogs away from the woman. Even then, one of the dogs came at the first responders and was shot dead.

Miller suffered severe injuries to her face, neck, legs and hands and was rushed to the hospital, where she was cared for, with doctors ultimately opting to amputate one of her legs in an effort to save her life.

Unfortunately, the mother and grandma succumbed to her injuries, passing away at the hospital later that day.

The other six dogs involved in the attack, all owned by the victim's son, have been euthanized.

********** Now the update ************

The son of the victim, Jeremy Miller, 38, was recently charged on seven "attack by animal" charges, all class B misdemeanors.

Jeremy Miller is accused of training his dogs to be especially vicious and "extremely aggressive."

Police also said Jeremy Miller was “clearly upset about his fence being damaged and his dogs being taken by animal control,” rather than showing any concern for the victim, his own mother.

If convicted, Jeremy Miller could face three years in prison and up to $6,000 in fines, though his sentence will likely be much shorter given that he was not present at the time of the attack.

It is a tragic story all around, but not the first time animals have attacked humans in the Beehive State. Here are some other incidents:

• November 2023, Clinton -- Three dogs (also Pitbulls) attacked two adults, causing non-life-threatening injuries. One of the adults shot and killed one of the dogs, while a second dog returned to its owner. The third dog is still on the loose.
• October 2023, Draper -- Coyote snatches pet Chihuahua out of lady's front yard, despite her yelling and screaming. The coyote snarled at the woman, then took off with the pet. The dog, 'Koda' was never found.
• July 8, 2023, near Provo -- This one was a cougar attack. Although the mountain lion never actually touched Kyle Burgess, this one is compelling because Burgess had the whole attack on video.
• April 28, 2023, Spanish Fork Canyon -- A 70-year-old man was attacked by a mountain lion near a parking area in the canyon, suffering lacerations to his head and face, sending him to the hospital. DWR officials warn that there at least 1,500 mountain lions in the state of Utah.
• October, 2022, Sandy -- A 5-year-old boy had to have nearly 3,000 stitches to repair wounds to his face and hands after being mauled by a husky. The boy had been riding his bicycle out in front of his home when the neighbor's dog attacked.
• Sept. 26, 2022, Mill Creek Canyon -- Another mountain lion attack, this one sending two female joggers to the hospital.
• Aug. 2019, Hobble Creek Canyon --  A young black bear bit a 13-year-old boy while he was camping at the Dewey Bridge Campground near Moab. The boy was sleeping outside in a sleeping bag when the bear bit his head. The bear was scared off when the boy woke up, but he was left with injuries on his cheek and ear.
• March, 2019, Layton -- A 4-year-old boy lost his hand and arm after sticking them through a neighbor's fence. A husky on the other side of the fence committed the attack..
• June 2007, American Fork Canyon -- A boy was killed when a black bear ripped him from a tent he was sharing with his family. Officials searched for hours before finding the boy’s body hundreds of yards from the campsite. The black bear later was shot and killed.

This is just a sampling of a few frightening encounters. There have been many more cases of animals attacking in Utah.

Get our free mobile app

They Found What?! Elderly Couple Arrested After Traffic Stop Leads To Horrific Discovery

I was perusing the internet yesterday when this headline from the Las Vegas Review-Journal jumped off the screen at me, "51 guinea pigs found in car, elderly couple arrested in Nevada."

Wait, what?

They found what? And where? And (most importantly) why?

If you haven't seen the story, I'll summarize. Police pulled over 79-year-old Timothy Miller and 72-year-old Carolyn Luke for a broken tail light (which is police code for they suspected something else was amiss, but needed a  legal reason to pull them over).

When Miller rolled down his window, the stench of animal feces, death and urine nearly overwhelmed the officer,

“Our officers knew right away that something was wrong,” Lt. Thomas Healing of the Boulder City Police Department said in a statement.

The police department had received a tip earlier about unknown persons driving around the city (located southwest of Las Vegas by the Hoover Dam) with a possible animal cruelty situation.

What officers found once Miller and Luke exited the vehicle was unbelievable. There were a total of 51 guinea pigs and rabbits inside the car. Eleven of the 51 were already dead, though the great circle of life showed that several of the live animals were pregnant with future pigs and rabbits.

And as it turns out, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

“The female suspect was concerned about other animals that they said were at their home and a hotel in Las Vegas, and immediately notified Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department,” Healing said in a statement included in the news release.

Officers then found 30 dogs (10 of them already deceased) at a hotel room rented by the couple, plus 15 more dogs and many more guinea pigs at the couple's home in Las Vegas.

The couple each faces 11 misdemeanor charges of torture, injure, abandon or starve an animal and may face charges in connection with the animals found in Las Vegas.

Trying to digest this story into something that makes any sense is pretty much impossible. I've been trying for two days now.

I don't know how long they've been a couple or if they have any children (for all that is holy, please let there be no children!), but something went wrong in their brains somewhere along the way.

How could they let this happen? What good could they possibly think they were doing? How did anyone not notice what was going on before last week?

One thing I've learned after all these years: Sometimes the news just doesn't make sense.