A seven-year-old boy died after being mauled by a dog his family had found abandoned at the side of the road less than a month earlier.
James McNeelis, from Keifer, Oklahoma, in the US, was attacked and killed by the corgi and shetland sheepdog mix last Wednesday.
His parents reported him missing to the police at around around 7.20pm on October 20 after he went outside to play in the back garden, but failed to respond to calls for dinner time.
Distraught dad Michael McNeelis - who has said he feels "alone and lost" without his son - then found the body around 15 minutes after the emergency call.
The dog had reportedly not shown signs of aggression prior to the incident.
It is now at an animal control facility and it remains unclear if it will be euthanised.
Neighbour Shannon Edison told CBS affiliate News on 6: "We just started seeing flashing lights, Kiefer Police, highway patrol, another vehicle had their flashers on driving up and down the road.
"We knew something was wrong. As a mother, you know that scream, if anybody has ever heard that scream, you know that scream. Something was catastrophically wrong."
Another neighbour added: "We heard the bloodcurdling screams of 'No!'"
Creek County Sheriff's Office and the Oklahoma Medical Examiners Office are investigating the attack.
"It doesn't look like any foul play," Creek County Sheriff Bret Bowling told KOCO.
"Our preliminary indications or investigations indicate is some kind of animal," said the sheriff.
The dog had been found "dumped on the side of the road" earlier this month, he added.
Michael shared his grief and paid tribute to James in a post on Facebook.
He said: "He was so full of life and light and he was going to change the world. And he still is.
"His light will change the world.
"We feel alone and lost without him and we’re doing all we can but it’s just hard. Everything just hurts without my little boy here."
A GoFundMe page was set up by James' mum Hannah Markley to raise money for his funeral.
More than $4,000 has already been donated.
"On October 20th, 2021, Michael and Hannah found their little boy mauled in their backyard. This is in order to help with memorial and cremation expenses for James," the description read.
