(Beth Clifton collage)
Another rescuer, who arrived after 14 dogs involved in the attack were removed, likened seeing pit bulls in earlier video of the scene to seeing Bigfoot
ALEXANDER, Arkansas––Fifteen-year-old dog rescuer Makayla Fortner at about noon on June 11, 2025 became the 36th known dog attack fatality of the year; the 29th pit bull victim; and the thirteenth Arkansas dog attack victim since 2017, all of them killed by pit bulls.
Fortner was also the fifth probable pit bull fatality among the seven most recent nationwide to die under circumstances just ambiguous enough to flood social media with denials that pit bulls were involved.
Stephanie Wilkie plays with young pit bulls through fence. (Stephanie Wilkie photos; collage from screenshots)
Multiple pit bulls & pit mixes
News video in Fortner’s case made clear that multiple pit bulls and pit mixes were involved.
Posted Makayla Fortner’s mother, Stephanie Wilkie, 40, to Facebook on June 8, 2025, “So like normal found myself in a hoarding situation of an older couple in their 80s with too many dogs, non-fixed puppies everywhere, 40+ and a litter born today.
“If anyone can help,” Wilkie asked, “please, we need spay and neuter and adoptions. They let me bring two home. Gave baths and they will need to be wormed and shots.
“Me and my daughter,” Makayla, Wilkie said, “are treating the yard for fleas and ticks. They are covered. My 15 year old daughter is weed-eating the property.”
Asked what sort of dogs were involved, Wilkie responded, “Pit mixes.”
Stephanie Wilkie with daughter Makayla Fortner.
(Facebook photo)
“30 to 40 dogs on the property”
“Neighbors say that there were anywhere from 30 to 40 dogs on the property at the time,” affirmed Payton Dhooge of KATV in Little Rock.
As Alexander has no animal shelter, the Saline County Sheriff’s Office transported fourteen dogs from the scene to Benton, Arkansas, thirteen miles southwest.
“Benton city officials tell KATV that all 14 dogs seized from the property after the attack have been euthanized,” Dhooge continued.
“Only four dogs who had been locked inside the house were left on the property,” Dhooge added.
Two young rescued pit bulls.
(Stephanie Wilkie photos)
Neighbors “complained multiple times”
The Saline County Sheriff’s Office said Fortner was “fatally attacked by multiple dogs located within a secured, fenced area on private property. Approximately 30 dogs were being housed at the location. The victim had been previously assisting with the care of the animals and was helping to find them permanent homes. The reason for the sudden and tragic attack is currently unknown.”
Continued Dhooge for KATV, “Locals believe the tragedy could have been prevented and blame the county for not stepping in sooner to do something about the animals, who had been neglected by their owners.
“Neighbors say they have complained multiple times in the past to the county about the dogs, who were not controlled by their owners and at times ran loose throughout the neighborhood.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Moved in with a huge amount of dogs”
Said neighbor Heidi Clay, “When they moved in all the neighbors were very upset. They moved in with a huge amount of dogs and a large amount of broken down vehicles. These dogs were very vicious at the fence to the point that no one wanted to let their children walk to and from the bus stop, like you had to get out here to get your 15-year-old off the bus because of these dogs.
“They do not look well-cared for,” Clay continued. “There is no humane society to call that will come out here and pick up these dogs. My dad tried. Before he passed away, he used to call [the sheriff’s office] all the time, and they told him to shoot them.
“And if somebody had done something, then then maybe this little girl would be alive,” Clay finished.
Preston Noland. (Facebook photo)
Rescuer contradicted other witnesses
Preston Andrew Noland, 46, of Southern Hearts Rescue, who said he was personally involved in collecting some of the dogs, contradicted practically every other witness, including Stephanie Wilkie, in several extensive Facebook postings.
“The dogs were on the property of people who have the misfortune of living on a dead end street in the country, also known as a common dumping ground,” Noland alleged. “These dogs were not bred by the people. They were not used in fighting rings. It was not a puppy mill.
“They were just someone else’s problem that they dumped off on these poor people,” Noland said. “These situations multiply quickly and soon you have 40 unfixed dogs running around your property. Good-hearted people saw the problem and were assisting with it.
Makayla Fortner playing girls soccer in 2023. (Facebook photo)
“Not dangerous or aggressive dogs”
Fortner “did not jump a fence to get on the property,” Noland continued, “and she had permission to be there. These were dogs she had interacted with before. They were hound and lab mixes,” Noland contended, likening those who saw pit bulls in the KATV videos of the scene to people claiming they saw Bigfoot.
“They were not aggressive or dangerous dogs before this incident,” Noland asserted.
Apart from the 14 dogs who were taken to Benton and euthanized, and the four left in the house, Noland said, “Any other dogs who were not personal dogs and not involved in the attack were removed by our rescue.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Unintentional hoarders”
“Sadly,” Noland continued, “these situations are happening all over this state. I call them unintentional hoarders. What do you do when someone dumps a bunch of animals on you? When there is no animal control or shelter in the area? When those animals ‘won’t leave’?
“When you can barely afford to feed yourself and now you have more mouths to feed? Can you close the door on the starving puppy crying for food on your porch? This little girl lost her life today because she cared. She was a hero,” Noland declared.
But she was apparently also surrounded by 14 pit bulls and pit mixes, at least one of whom had birthed a litter only days before.
Lucrecia Macias Barajas.
(GoFundMe photo)
Tent case in Los Angeles
The disputed involvement of pit bulls in killing Makayla Fortner came a month after Lucrecia Macias Barajas, 46, and Fredy Pojoy Sajqui, 39, were found dead on May 12, 2025 by one of Barajas’ adult daughters in a makeshift tent reportedly locked from the inside at a Los Angeles homeless encampment.
Barajas’ dogs, a pit bull and a German shepherd mix, also found inside the tent, had reportedly eaten parts of her body, and according to some accounts had eaten parts of Sajqui’s remains too, but their causes of death have yet to be officially released.
Kianna Winfield.
Infant case in New York City
Kianna Winfield, one month old, sleeping between her parents in the Queensbridge Houses project in Queens, New York, was found dead by her mother, Lillian Burton, 27, at about 6:30 a.m. on May 27, 2025, with their pit bull puppy tearing the baby’s face off.
New York Daily News reporter Colin Mixxon updated a day later that “An initial autopsy performed by the New York City medical examiner was inconclusive with further testing needed to determine how Kianna Winfield died,” according to a spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office.
“But the autopsy did reveal the dog bites were inflicted after the girl was already dead,” Mixxon mentioned, while reiterating that both Burton and her boyfriend told the police they had seen the young pit bull biting the baby’s face.”
(See Pit bulls, poor adult judgement, & poverty: common aspects of 2 infant deaths.)
(Beth Clifton collage)
Victim lived in car with eight dogs
In Monroe County, Indiana, WTHR digital desk editor Arianna Sergio reported from Indianapolis, the county sheriff’s office on June 1, 2025 responded to a call reporting an unresponsive person inside a car that had hit a concrete light pole base at a Walmart parking lot, and that “numerous aggressive dogs” were inside the car.
“When police arrived on scene,” Sergio summarized, “they said eight dogs in the car were acting aggressively and preventing them from getting to the victim.
“Police said firefighters tried to get to the victim,” but “multiple dogs escaped and started charging emergency personnel and bystanders. One firefighter and one bystander were bitten,” receiving “minor injuries,” treated at a local hospital.
“Police said they discovered the victim had been living out of the vehicle,” Sergio said, which according to surveillance video had hit the light pole base about four hours before the situation was reported.
Neither the victim’s identity nor the official cause of death have been disclosed.
Clint and Amber Fontenot.
(GoFundMe photo)
The human pit bull toll in Arkansas since 2017
(See also No-kill vs. high human body count: Best Friends fights Arkansas pit bull bans.)
The human toll since 2017, during which time only pit bulls have killed Arkansans:
Clint Fontenot, 41, of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, was on July 3, 2024 killed by own XL Bully.(See Fourth of July 2024 death reports: 3 by dog, 1 by croc, & a famous bull.)
Reuben Pierce, 70, of Jacksonville, Arkansas, was mauled by pit bulls on October 30, 2023. He died from his injuries on January 24, 2024. (See Pit bulls kill two men miles from home, one in home, & one in front yard.)
Jeane Bennett.
Jeane Bennett, 93, of Blytheville, Arkansas, was attacked by three free-roaming pit bulls on June 3, 2023. She died from her injuries on August 16, 2023. Neighbor David Veasey, 43, was charged with two counts of felony aggravated assault, two counts of unlawful dog attack, and various violations of city ordinance. (See Pit bull death of 93-year-old woman ends streak of 4 killings of adult men.)
James Woodrow McCool, 39, of Star City, Arkansas, was allegedly pulled out of his wheelchair by multiple pit bulls on October 29, 2023. Cousin Scott Alan McCool, 48, owner of Copperhead Kennels, was on January 18, 2024 charged with manslaughter.
Brenda Witt, 60, of Genoa, Arkansas, was killed by five free-roaming pit bulls on September 24, 2023. (See Pit bulls kill 2 women, 2 days apart. Small town cares; does Toledo?)
Brenda Lynn Witt.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Sam Sullivan, 57, of West Memphis, Arkansas, died on November 21, 2022, after having been attacked by a pit bull on November 8, 2022.)
Unidentified child was killed on November 3, 2022 in Nob Hill, Springdale, Arkansas. The dog involved was identified by neighbors as an “outside” pit bull. (See Tyson executive bust upstages three dog attack fatalities in a week.)
Patti Webb, 65, of Avoca, Arkansas, a pit bull rescuer, was killed on September 24, 2021 by two pit bulls kept by a renter on her property.
Roger James Kirk, 69, Horatio, AR, attacked 3-19-2020, died 3-26-2020 of injuries. (See Pit bull attack deaths only slightly slowed by COVID-19 stay-home orders.)
Robbie Taylor
Robbie Taylor, 9, of Mount Vernon, Arkansas, was killed on May 28, 2020 by two pit bulls belonging to neighbor Trey Edgar Wyatt, 25, who was criminally charged. (See Wrestler Megan Milner is first Canadian pit bull fatality of 2020.)
Bill Deneke, 70, of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, died on December 8, 2017 of head injuries suffered when a pit bull knocked him down.
Sharon Lindemann, 75, was on October 30, 2017 killed by two pit bulls in her driveway in Hartman, Arkansas.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Two earlier ambiguous cases
2022 brought two ambiguous cases, not included in the 2017-2025 total of thirteen confirmed pit bull attack deaths.
Timothy Reels, 62, of Spadra, Arkansas, an amputee and former polio victim, was found dead in a wooded area on February 21, 2022, after a multi-day search in sub-freezing weather.
Spadra was discovered beside his wrecked 4-wheeler, with his 13-year-old pit bull.
While the dog’s behavior in theory might have contributed to the accident, for example by occasioning a sudden swerve into the icy ravine where the 4-wheeler landed, no evidence was reported to establish exactly what happened.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Guillermo Guzman, 39, was found dead on November 21, 2022 in Little Rock, apparently some time after he died. Reported Jack A. Webb for KATV, “Authorities noted that “suspicious trauma” on Guzman’s body appeared to be caused by post-mortem animal predation, which means animals had fed on the body after his death.” No cause of death appears to have been identified by the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory autopsy.
Please donate to support our work:
www.animals24-7.org/donate/
The post Arkansas dog rescuer Makayla Fortner, 15, killed by pit bulls appeared first on Animals 24-7.