3rd dog sought in attack on joggers over weekend

Dan Ryan Woods to remain closed

By Amy E. Nevala, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Matt Walberg contributed to this report

January 15, 2003

The Dan Ryan Woods will remain closed Wednesday as city and county animal control units and Cook Country Forest Preserve police look for a third dog they believe may have been involved this week in the death of one female jogger and the mauling of a second.

The injured jogger, Mary Murphy Smith, 46, of the 8900 block of South Hamilton Avenue, continued her stay in the intensive care unit Tuesday at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, a spokeswoman said.

An autopsy on the second woman, Anna Cieslewicz, 48, of the 9600 block of South Troy Avenue, Evergreen Park, showed she died of multiple injuries, said a spokesman from the Cook County medical examiner's office. "She had bite marks all over her body," he said.

Officials with Cook County animal control said they were looking for a third dog after a 63-year-old Chicago man said he had been feeding at least three stray dogs in the area, two of which matched the description of dogs shot Sunday after the attacks.

Animal control officers surveyed the approximately 200-acre woods on the Far South Side Tuesday, capturing an adult female pit bull and a 2-month-old pit-bull mix. Both were impounded at Chicago Animal Care and Control, said the organization's executive director, Nikki Proutsos.

It had not been determined whether the adult female captured was the third dog involved in the attack, said Cook County animal control spokeswoman Caryn Stancik.

The two dogs shot Sunday when they threatened police officers investigating the attacks appeared to be healthy, well-maintained dogs, said Dr. Dan Parmer, head of Cook County animal control.

"These are not wild animals. Someone has been caring for these dogs," he said. "We've got some irresponsible owners on our hands who let these dogs get out."

Dr. Dan Parmer, head of Cook County animal control, said it will take at least a week for the completion of DNA testing to determine whether the two dogs killed were involved in the attack on the women. Rabies tests are expected to be complete by Friday, Stancik said.

Smith works as a nurse midwife at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, a spokeswoman at the hospital said. A neighbor visiting Smith's home who declined to be identified Tuesday said Smith ran about 6 miles daily and has completed at least one marathon.