SAN ANTONIO — Ramon Najera's fatal mauling brought back savage memories to Doris Mixon-Smith.
It all sounded too familiar to Mixon-Smith, who says she was minutes away from death when her neighbor's pitbull attacked her.
"5 minutes. They said if they had of been 5 minutes later, I would have bled out right there," Mixon-Smith said.
The retired radiology tech said she and a relative of Najera's live on Mansfield Drive.
81-year-old Najera got laid to rest last week after three dogs attacked him and his wife on Depla Street. Juanita "Janie" Najera survived with severe injuries. The dogs were seized and euthanized.
The injured widow is suing the dogs' owner Christian Alexander Moreno and his wife, Abilene Schnieder—the two face criminal charges of dangerous attack-death and injury to the elderly-criminal neglect in the case.
"And the first thing I think about is the people that caused this---they're going on about their life," Mixon-Smith said. "I hurt every day."
The mother of five just celebrated her 79th birthday, and it came six days after an anniversary Mixon-Smith never wanted on her calendar.
March 6, 2017, Mixon-Smith said she was doing yard work. At the time, she was 73 years old. The retiree was days away from a trip with friends when a muscular pitbull came charging at her.
"I remember the dog because I said, God, please help me," Mixon-Smith recalled. "And I threw this arm up, and everything else was blurred. I didn't feel no pain."
Gruesome doorbell footage from her home showed 'Bully' the pitbull mutilating her arm. Bloodied and fighting for her life, she tried to get the neighbor's child to ring her doorbell. KENS 5 obtained video and pictures of the case from Bexar County District Attorney court records.
The boy begged the dog to stop, and it would not release Mixon-Smith's arm. The child even hit Bully with what looked like a PVC pipe, but the animal held its grip.
"Bully, stop please!" the boy tearfully pleaded.
Meantime, an adult man called 911 from inside his home.
Caller: The dog is attacking this lady right now. Come, come, come.
Dispatcher: Attacking the what?
Caller: Pitbull is attacking this lady outside.
A girl is screaming on some of the 911 transmissions.
Caller: The lady is bleeding. The lady---The kids said---The kids said, that's a bone that's showing.
Current San Antonio Police Detective Matthew Vizcarrondo was a patrol officer that day. He got the call to go to Mixon-Smith's home. When he arrived, the 911 caller shouted for Vizcarrondo to end the attack with lethal force.
Caller: Shoot it! Just kill it! (Gunshot)
Girl: Oh my (gunshot)
Girl: Oh my god. (Gunshot)
Girl: Oh my god.
Caller: (expletive)!
For seven days, Mixon-Smith was unaware she was in the hospital. She was alive but oblivious that her 74th birthday had come and gone.
"When I woke up, I saw my sister standing at the end of the bed," she recalled. "I said this can not be good."
The doctors could not save her arm from the harmful attack. They amputated part of it and also worked on her face. The dog had ripped the skin off of a section of her face. Evidence from the facial wounds remains today.
"You can probably see the scars here. It was a hot mess," she said.
Mixon-Smith was off to rehab with an amputated arm she calls Charlie. A name that came off the cuff when the hospital nurses kept calling it a stump.
The dog attack victim said she remembered crying once, looking at her face in the hospital mirror alone in her room. But she wiped her tears and moved on.
"I could not let them be shown to my kids. They don't need no weakling for no mama. No!" she said.
Alphonso McCloud and his wife, Stanyelle Miles-McCloud were found guilty of the dog attack. The wife received probation, and her husband got sentenced to TDCJ in January 2018. He got released in August 2021.
Mixon-Smith said the $100,000 insurance settlement from the incident did not cover her hospital bills which came close to $240,000. Plus, she incurred expenses for new clothing to accommodate one arm and countless medications to ease the pain of the dog's teeth.
"Forgiveness is a tough thing, especially when you've got all these plans for a life," she said. "I'm retired. I have worked all my life since I was 15 years old."
So Najera's death and her life-changing adjustment as a survivor spurred her to ask pet owners to be responsible and accountable.
"So every dog is different. That's the reality," Lucia Alamanza said. "They all need the proper care, socialization, and training."
Almanza, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio Humane Society, said any dog could become dangerous if the animal gets raised to be aggressive. Human Society trainer Hannah Barrera agreed.
"If the dog isn't socialized and does not gain enough confidence, it's going to act more territorial," Barrera said. "Because it doesn't know how else to act."
They recommended safely exposing the dog to any and every situation possible as a part of responsible pet ownership.
Breed-specific data confirming the most dangerous dog depends on the searcher and the source. Most align the pitbull and Rottweilers at the top of the list.
"I got a golf putter in this hand, a gun in my pocket. How do you walk and relax like that?" Mixon-Smith said.
While not calling out a specific breed, she is concerned about dog attacks on the elderly. A list compiled by dogbites.org shows the number of elderly victims in Texas. Most, if not all, dog bite trackers reveal that children have the greatest vulnerability to dog attacks.