Caregiver Christine Marie Rollins, 59, was supposed to visit an elderly couple at their home in rural Anahuac, Texas, on Sunday.
She never showed up. The hours ticked by until finally, one of the seniors went to the front window and looked out on the driveway.
That’s when the couple saw Rollins’ car in the driveway and her body on the ground, partway between the car and the front door of the house.
Rollins showed up for work at about 6 a.m. that day but was attacked and fatally injured by a pack of feral hogs on her way from the car to the house, according to the Chambers County Sheriff’s Department.
“It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen,” Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told reporters on Monday. The 35-year veteran says he has “no doubt” that Rollins was attacked by multiple animals.
“We can tell that from the different sizes of the bites,” he said.
The autopsy results show that Rollins bled to death after an attack by feral hogs, Hawthorne said.
Invasive feral hogs have become a major problem in Texas. However, it’s extremely rare for them to kill a human, Hawthorne said.
He added that the couple who own the house live on an acreage, and the hogs appeared to have “taken over some of their family land.”
Rollins was a loving person, a dedicated caregiver and a passionate football fan, according to son-in-law Tony Sandles Jr.
“The way it happened was just so shocking,” he told NBC News. Sandles added that the family was preparing to celebrate Rollins’ 60th birthday on Christmas Day.
“She would not only give you the shirt off her back but also the pants,” he said. “She was just that type of person.”
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Feral hogs are running rampant in some rural areas of the United States and Canada, where they’re known to move in packs and rip through farmland after dark.
A fully grown feral hog can weigh between 45 and 180 kilograms (100 to 400 pounds), according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Officials estimate there are more than 1.5 million feral hogs in the state of Texas alone.
Feral hogs “do not pose a significant threat to humans,” the department says. However, they’ve been known to spread diseases through contact with livestock.
“Cajun Bob” Thornberry, who lives near the home where Rollins was killed, says he’s been trapping and hunting hogs in the area for decades.
“If you walk up on a bunch of these hogs, don’t try to run because they can outrun you,” he told ABC 13. He added that he’s escaped from wild hogs by climbing up trees.
“My heart goes out to the family,” he said. “A loss like that, no one needs to have to go through.”
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