Family members identify the deceased man as 96-year-old Juan Campos. Deputies say half his leg was mauled.
Investigators tell Eyewitness News a relative came home to the 2200 block of Maplewood Friday afternoon and found the man dead in the backyard covered with severe dog bites.
The relative, Miguel Velasquez, told us he was gone for only a couple of hours.
"It just shocked me, it shocked me," he said. "I saw him laying there. I was hoping that he would respond to me but he did not."
Deputies have seized five dogs in the area. They say it's possible pit bulls from a neighbor's yard behind the home got through a hole in the fence and began attacking.
Investigators say a Chihuahua was also found dead. They say the dogs also mauled and nearly killed another family pet, which relatives rushed to the vet.
Deputies say they're trying to decide if the elderly victim was killed by the dogs or if he died before the attack.
"We're talking about a man who's 96 years old. We're talking about extreme temperatures," said Sgt. Ben Beall with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "He doesn't have any known medical issues, but you know, just because of the extreme conditions that we are dealing with, we are just not going to know until they do the autopsy and it may be 60 to 90 days before we can get a ruling from the medical examiner."
But Velasquez says he is already convinced he knows how his grandfather died.
"He was very healthy man," Velasquez said. "I come home, and there's this three dogs that are killing this other dog and I see him lying dead. What else could it be?"
He says they've had problems with their neighbor's dogs in the past; the fence shows previous patches. But no one ever thought it would come to this.
"Those dogs should have been either kept in a better, safer place or tied up somehow. Now our family is suffering," Velasquez said.
Investigators interviewed the neighbor who owns the dogs believed to be involved in the attack. We'll post any new details as they come in.
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