Dog Pack Murder: Husband Of Victim Blames Dog Owner Whose Pit Bull Mauled Wife, 'I Don't Blame The Dogs. I Blame People" [UPDATE]

The husband of the woman jogger murdered by a pack of pit bulls points the blame squarely on the owner of the dogs.

“I do not blame the dogs. I don’t blame pit bulls,” says Ben Devitt, speaking to KCAL-TV. “I blame people who don’t take responsibility for their animals.”

Devitt’s wife, Pamela, was out for a jog when she was attacked by four pit bulls in Palmdale.

Alex Jackson, 29, the owner of four pit bulls that killed Pamela, was charged with murder, according to the Christian Science Monitor. The dog pack murder is a highly unusual case that has strained the memories of law enforcement officials looking for comparable uses of felony murder law.

The charge came Thursday after DNA tests on his dogs found blood on their muzzles and coats that matched that of Pamela Devitt, 63, who died May 9 after being bitten 150 to 200 times by his four pit bulls, reports the Monitor.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said, “The DNA came back with blood on the dogs that matched the victim’s blood.”

The warrant against Alex Jackson also charges him with owner negligence of an animal causing death, according to Jane Robinson of the Los Angeles County Police Department.

Aside from all this, Jackson also faces charges for growing Marijuana.

The pit bulls’ owner was originally arrested shortly after the death of Pamela Devitt, but was released on bail pending DNA testing to determine if his dogs carried out the attack.

He is being hold on $1 million bail and is scheduled for arraignment Friday.

Dog bite-related fatalities are rare, with the number of cases ranging from 30 to 35 in a year. More criminal charges such as endangerment are being filed against owners, said Donald Cleary, a spokesman for the National Canine Research Council.

Cleary could only recall three other instances where murder charges where filed against the owners: two of them in California and one in Georgia.

Police have been receiving reports since January of Jackson’s dogs attacking other people, according to Robison.

The sheriff said that a driver saw the pit bulls attacking Pamela in the high desert community of Littlerock and called 911. The driver also honked her horn to stop the dogs from attacking her.

The arriving deputy saw one dog attacking the runner and tried to chase it. It ran off into the desert, then turned around and attacked the deputy, who took a shot at the animal before it ran off.

Within hours, sheriff’s and animal control officials served a search warrant on Jackson’s residence near the site of the attack. They took away eight dogs, six pit bulls and two mixed-breeds.

The dogs were kept under quarantine for rabies observation at a shelter in Lancaster. Four of the pit bulls seized were believed to have attacked Pamela.