"Personal protection dogs" kill two in Knoxville suburbs in under 100 days

Tennessee Rottweiler and black Dutch shepherd dog attack.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Two Rottweilers & a “highly trained” Dutch shepherd maul septuagenarians

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee––Dogs apparently acquired for personal protection have twice in under 100 days killed older female family members in the rural outer suburbs of Knoxville, Tennessee.

The fatal attacks underscore that dogs are a poor choice of weapon, partly because dogs can “pull their own triggers,” partly because the victims who may be most in need of protection are also often not strong enough to control one powerful dog who is going berserk, let alone two or more.

Sevier County sheriff Ron Seals on Monday, June 6, 2022 disclosed that, “Officers were dispatched to a residence on Olympic View Court in Seymour, Tennessee, on Friday, June 3, 2022 and found a 70-year-old female, identified as Debbie Boyd, deceased, suffering from numerous dog bites.

(Beth Clifton photo)

“Small child was uninjured”

“Officers observed two large Rottweiler dogs in the fenced-in yard,” Seals said, who “had been secured by family members before the arrival of first responders. It was determined that the dogs were in the home with the victim at the time of the attack along with a small child, who was uninjured.”

The child is believed to be a grandchild of victim Debbie Boyd, whose full name, according to property records, was Deborah Reeser Boyd.

“The dogs were captured,” Seals continued, “by the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control Division and taken to an animal housing facility until the investigation is completed. The victim was taken to Knox County Regional Forensic Center in Knoxville for an autopsy. The investigation is ongoing,” Seals finished.

William Kegan Boyd. (Arrest photo)

Registered sex offender

406 Olympic View Court in Seymour, Tennessee, is the listed address of registered sex offender William Kegan Boyd.

His history may explain the presence of the two Rottweilers.

William Kegan Boyd, then age 20, was charged with sexual exploitation of a child in August 2008; arrested for probation violation in 2012; and charged in 2014 with computer pornography and multiple attempts to commit a felony.

William Kegan Boyd does not appear to have been in trouble again since his marriage to Yulia Korol, of nearby Sevierville, in March 2017.

Olivia Grace Floyd.

Second Rottweiler fatality of 2022

Deborah Reeser Boyd was the second Rottweiler fatality of 2022.

The first was seven-year-old Olivia Grace Floyd, of Waynesboro, Virginia, killed by a four-year-old family Rottweiler named Ranger on January 29, 2022.

Indicted by the Waynesboro grand jury in connection with her death were Stephen Christopher Kachmar, 60, also known on social media as Chris Nitemare Kachmar; his wife, grandmother of the victim, Penny Lee Bashlor, 64; Brooks Anthony Floyd, 39, father of the victim; and his wife, mother of the victim, Alicia Rene Floyd, 37.

Kachmar and Bachlor were charged with five offenses each, including non-capital murder and manslaughter.

The Floyds were charged only with child cruelty resulting in injury.

(See Rottweiler killing of seven-year-old brings murder charges in Virginia.)

Janet Means. (Tellico Village Ladies Golf Association photo)

Sheriff’s office announced Tellico death 30 minutes after it happened, then went silent

Janet E. Means, 71, of Tellico Village, Tennessee, also known as Janet G. Means, has not yet been publicly confirmed by family members or law enforcement as the victim of a March 30, 2022 fatal attack at her home at 251 Coyatee Shores, but circumstantial evidence suggests the victim could have been no one else.

The Loudon County Sheriff’s Office on March 30, 2022 announced at 7:28 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, that “Patrol and Detectives Divisions are on scene of a fatality involving a Tellico Village woman who appears to have been killed by her own dog.

“At approximately 6:52 p.m.,” the announcement continued, “a 911 call was received from witnesses who reported seeing a dog attacking a human. Multiple deputies responded and on scene found a large black dog standing over a body. Deputies were unable to approach the victim due to the potential attack from the dog and a Loudon County Sheriff’s Deputy was forced to shoot and kill the animal.

“The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene by Priority EMS Paramedics.”

(Dutch Shepherd left/ Belgian Malinois right)

“Very accomplished K9 trainer”

Justin Vallejo, New York correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent, reported the following day that the victim “was mauled and killed by her own ‘highly trained’ dog. Multiple witnesses, Vallejo wrote, “called 911 to report someone being attacked by a Dutch shepherd.

“The dog was a Dutch shepherd,” Vallejo said the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to him, “and was reportedly a very highly trained personal protection dog owned by the victim and her husband, who is a long-time and very accomplished K9 trainer.”

That description matches Janet Means’ husband, Roger L. Means, 86, who with former wife Velvaly Tinsley Means founded the Roveldeco Professional Dog Training Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in 1993.

Roger L. Means.
(Hundeskool photo)

Couple scored double hole-in-ones

Roger L. Means, a retired Spartanburg Fire Department battalion chief, “has more than 25 years’ experience training canines in obedience,” according to the Roveldeco web site, “and has also been an Accelerant K-9 handler and trainer since 1994.

Roger L. Means has also taught as a guest instructor for Hundeskool LLC, which has locations at Inman and Clover, South Carolina.

(Beth & Merritt Clifton)

Matt Pittsley, golf club professional at Lake Ashton, Florida, told Lakeland Ledger news chief Del Milligan in 2015 that when he worked at the Grenelefe Golf & Tennis Resort in the late 1990s, “Roger Means aced the 13th hole on the East Course while playing in a couples mixer. Then Janet Means knocked her shot into the cup on top of Roger’s, playing from the women’s tees,” for almost unheard of double hole-in-ones.