he was sipping her coffee when she suddenly an enormous black dog ran into her garden. It slowly raised its head, looked her straight in the eyes and barked menacingly. Then, it was joined by another, even larger dog. Her eyes widened in disbelief – what did they want?
And then she knew that they had come for her. They were asking for help
Alexandra Naspolini lived in a quiet suburb in Florida and was unaware that disaster was about to strike, just a few feet from her door.
She was usually out and about at this time of morning, but today she decided to pause for a moment to enjoy a cup of coffee in her living room while she admired her front garden. And that’s when she noticed something unusual.
Here in St. Johns, Jacksonville, nobody had ever felt the need to erect enormous fences and high walls around their properties. The crime rate here was low, and the residents had always felt safe.
It was a closely-knit community, and everyone knew their neighbours. So when Alexandra saw the enormous dogs run into her garden on that day in December, she knew that something was very wrong.
62-year-old Maureen Hatcher, just a few doors away, was also going about her daily routine. She fed her Labradors, Sadie and Bella, and prepared her own breakfast before deciding to take a shower.
Usually, her grandson, Tyler, was with her, but today she was all alone. While she was in the shower, her security camera catches something sinister.
Bella and Sadie begin to bark loudly, and then make a move toward the front door. In the security footage, they can be seen cleverly opening the unlocked door by its handle, and running outside. Then, they make a beeline straight for Alexandra’s yard. To an onlooker, their behaviour is puzzling.
But when Alexandra sees them, she knows they are asking for help.
Sadie reached the garden first. “I usually am very routine, but that day, I didn’t do my usual,” Alexandra recalled. “I was sitting on the floor drinking coffee and saw her outside. Then I heard the other dog barking.”
Naspolini couldn’t shake the feeling that a tragedy was unfolding, right before her own eyes.
The two dogs were clearly distressed, barking frantically. Alexandra immediately recognised them as belonging to her neighbour, and decided to take them back home. They walked a few paces in front of her, then stopped and looked back to see if she was following. They were leading her somewhere.
“Where’s mom? Where’s mom?” Alexandra said, not really expecting a reply.
Alexandra is seen on the doorbell security camera as she walks up to Maureen’s home and rings the doorbell, but there is no answer. An indescribable feeling of terror washes over her.
There was just something off about the whole situation. How did the dogs get out? And where was Maureen? She waits for a few seconds, but instead of turning around and leaving, she steps inside.
Bella and Sadie continue to bark as they lead Alexandra into the house. She pauses and calls nervously, “Hello?” She follows the dogs through the kitchen and into the bedroom.Her heart skips a beat as she realizes why the dogs had wanted her to follow them into the house.
In the bedroom, she is met with a sight she will never forget.
Sadie enters the room before Alexandria does and walks purposefully over to the bed. Bella hangs back and lets out a small whimper, then all is quiet. The curtains are drawn and the room is dark.
Alexandra waits a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, her retinas burning from the bright sunlight outside. There’s something on the bed.
Alexandra moves forward, her heart thudding loudly in the dark room, with every step she draws closer to the bed, and the heap lying on top of it. “Mrs. Hatcher?” she calls softly, but there is no reply.
The woman on the bed doesn’t stir. She takes a deep breath and reaches out to touch the woman’s shoulder, and then jumps back in fright
he woman lying on the bed suddenly makes a low groaning sound as she raises her head, and Alexandria quickly realizes that there is something terribly wrong with Mrs. Hatcher.
One side of her mouth droops downwards with an expression of terror as she tries to get the words out.
Alexandria pulls out her phone and dials 911. She knows something awful is happening, and there’s nothing she can do. Maureen Hatcher’s brain is being starved of oxygen and if help doesn’t arrive soon, she may never recover.
Every second Maureen lies there is a second too late, and she’s all too aware that time is quickly running out.
St. Johns County Fire Rescue arrives within minutes. Both dogs watch their owner being loaded into the van and howl in distress.
“When the brain is deprived of blood, cells die and permanent brain injury can occur. Timing is everything,” Nima Amim Aghaebrahim, an interventional neurologist, explains.
