In a gruesome tale of parental negligence, a 21-month-old Monica Renee Laminack of Bryan County, Georgia was mauled to death by a pack of seven pit bulls that were owned by her family.

The attack occurred at around 6 p.m. Wednesday, when Monica somehow got outside the family home and was surrounded by their pack of seven pit bulls and pit bull mixes. They proceeded to bite her and drag her across the yard for what could have been upwards of an hour and a half.

So far the family has insisted that they have never had any issues with the dogs, and outside of one pit bull killing a cat, they had been very peaceful animals up to this point. The dogs had reportedly played with Monica many times and the family did not view them as a danger. Bryan County Sheriff Clyde Smith has already taken responsibility for euthanizing all the involved dogs upon arriving at the scene.

The family is not sure as to how little Monica Renee had escaped from the house and into the yard. The grandmother was asleep at the time and Monica's twelve-year-old brother was supposed to be watching her. In total, there were five adults in the house at the time of the mauling.

One theory is that the toddler had crawled out through the house's doggy door, something she had done in the past. No one in the household noticed until the grandmother awoke from her nap and, upon hearing the pack of dogs barking, looked outside. There she saw them dragging the girl's lifeless body, and screamed "they're killing Monica!"

"All the dogs had access to the house, nine dogs in all," Sheriff Clyde Smith said. "She habitually played with dogs, all of them. But they drug her all over the yard. Something turned them on her. We don't know what."

Soon after the EMS arrived, but Monica was pronounced dead on the scene, having already been dead for quite some time. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday, and Smith said he would be shocked if no charges were filed against the family.

Related: 1500-pound Bison Attack Man At State Park, He Walks Away Unharmed 

Worth Reading: Chinese Man Spends 6 Years At An Internet Cafe