The family of a woman who died after being bitten by the family’s mixed pit bull dogs last month has a prior history of its dogs turning on their owners. 

Alachua police are continuing to investigate the death of 61-year-old Moraima “Mori” Simon, whose body was found March 19 on her son’s property. Two animals were seized after police concluded Simon’s death “may have involved two bulldogs.”  

“There were bite marks on the deceased, on her arms,” Alachua Police Department (APD) spokesman Thomas Stanfield told Mainstreet in a phone interview.  

Mainstreet has learned this is not the first time that pit bull-type dogs belonging to Simon’s son, Bryan Faulk, and his wife, Kathleen Leto, have been the subjects of bite investigations. 

In April 2023, animal control officers in Miami-Dade County probed an incident at the family’s home after Miami Children’s Hospital reported a child had been brought to the emergency room with a dog bite.  Florida law requires hospitals to report dog bite cases. 

In that incident, Kathleen Leto’s daughter from a previous marriage, 12-year-old Mia, was bitten in her arm by “Tank,” one of the family’s pit bull-type dogs, when it turned on her at the family’s home in southwest Miami-Dade. The child was interacting with “Tank” and another of the family’s dogs when she was attacked, according to a report by the investigating officer.  The girl suffered “puncture wounds” to her upper arm, which were visible in a photo reviewed by Mainstreet. 

Kathleen Leto was cited for not having registered the dog with the county and for it not being vaccinated for rabies. Animal control did not seize the dog. 

Two different dogs involved in the death of Leto’s mother-in-law continue to be held at the Alachua County animal shelter. The dogs, “American bullies,” according to animal control records, are named “Chanel” and “Scrappy.”  

Alachua County spokesperson Mark Sexton said the dogs are being kept apart from other animals and out of public view. A decision on whether they will be euthanized is pending the results of investigations by animal control and the APD. 

Simon’s son told Mainstreet on Friday that his mother “wasn’t mauled” by his dogs, but that they “contributed” to her death. 

“It doesn’t matter how the dogs contributed,” he said. “She got bit. When she got bit, she had a heart attack.” 

An autopsy was performed by the Alachua County medical examiner. The preliminary results of the autopsy have not been released pending completion of the police investigation. Stanfield told Mainstreet in a Thursday email that the medical examiner has not yet determined the “official cause of death.” 

Mori Simon was visiting her son’s family from her home in Miami-Dade. Other family members had gone out, and she was walking with her 3-year-old grandson at the rural, 10-acre property on Northwest County Road 235 when she suffered the bites. Her body was discovered by returning family members. The child was found nearby, unharmed. 

Public records and entries on Simon’s Facebook page indicate the family had at least four pit bull-type dogs, including the one in the 2023 Miami-Dade bite case.