Pregnant Woman Killed by 'Her Lover's Dog'

Looks like investigators have solved the grisly killing of a pregnant woman in France, the Guardian reports. A source close to the investigation says Elisa Pilarski, 29, was killed in Retz forest near Paris in 2019 by her partner's dog Curtis, which she was walking at the time. When her body was found in a ravine covered with dog bites, many suspected nearby hunting hounds, and the case sparked a public debate between pro- and anti-hunters. But an insider says the DNA of her partner's American Staffordshire terrier was detected on the bites. "The results of the DNA tests definitively confirm the innocence of the [hunting] dogs," said the Rallye la Passion hunting club.

Seems Pilarski had called partner Christophe Ellul just before the attack, saying she encountered threatening dogs and struggled to hold Curtis back. Ellul showed up about 45 minutes later, found her body, and blamed the club, which was involved in a deer hunt that day. But the club protested its innocence and DNA tests were made on 67 dogs, including 62 hounds, Curtis, and four other dogs owned by Ellul and Pilarski. Now a report by two veterinary experts has cast Curtis in an even worse light, Le Monde reports. "Bred in the Netherlands and illegally introduced into France by its purchaser," they say, Curtis received "biting training," which is prohibited in France and can cause animals to lose the "capacity for control or discernment." (More fatality stories.)