Actor Ving Rhames’ Bullmastiffs may not have inflicted fatal dog bites on the man found dead at the actor’s Brentwood, Calif., home on Aug. 3, 2007, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Friday.
The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy of Jacob Adams, the 40-year-old caretaker for the actor’s four dogs, said the dog bite abrasions and lacerations on Adams’ body were around his arms and legs.
“When animals attack humans or other animals, the victims usually end up with bites around the head and neck. He had none,” said Capt. Ed Winter of the coroner’s office in an interview with the Associated Press. “This leads us to believe he went down for some other medical reason.”
Adams had been living on Rhames’ property for more than two years before the attack. Police say two Bullmastiffs, each weighing about 200 pounds, apparently attacked Adams, who was found on the home’s front lawn. Three Bullmastiffs and an English Bulldog were seized by animal services following the attack.
The medical examiner said an exact cause of death will be known in six weeks pending the results of a toxicology report.
Rhames, best known for his work in the “Mission Impossible” films, was not home at the time of the attack.