Police ID body of Kendall man found in garage with multiple dog bites

Police on Wednesday identified a man who was found dead in his garage in Kendall, body had multiple dog bites.

The body of Alexander A. Torres, who just turned 29 last week, was discovered by a friend, according to a written statement by Miami-Dade police.

Police said a friend of Torres told police that he had not seen or heard from him since Sunday and decided to do a welfare check on Tuesday.

That’s when the man’s body was found at his home near Southwest 123rd Court and 104th Terrace. 

In A 911 police radio transmission, a dispatcher says, “Complainant advised he was calling his friend all day and he was not answering the phone and when he showed up to the house he was found covered in blood and possibly dead and the dog was acting suspicious.”

Police said the dog bites may have been the cause of death, but the Medical Examiner’s Office will make the official determination.

A family member told CBS News Miami’s Peter D’Oench that Torres had some physical issues that limited his mobility and said he had owned the medium-sized, mixed-breed dog for several years. He said Torres was a good man and said family members and friends were deeply upset.

Raisa Pereda, a neighbor, drove by the home and stopped to tell CBS News Miami, “This is incredible. I can’t believe it. It is very very sad. Sometimes the dog got out and was leaving and I tried to get the dog back in the house. I never saw something wrong with the dog. He was such a good person. I never saw any problems there. He had friends come and go and that was it. I noticed he did have some trouble walking.”

The dog is a large brown brindle/white male terrier mix that was taken away by animal services. 

Miami-Dade Police Detective Andre Martin said, “Animal Services did arrive here and took the dog into custody and thankfully took it to Animal Services headquarters.”

Animal Services is not commenting because of the ongoing police investigation and said it has not been officially confirmed that the dog in the home was the one who bit Torres.