The Medical Examiner's Office released preliminary autopsy results to Hampton police Wednesday, said Sgt. Jeff Walden, police spokesman.
"The examination showed that all injuries sustained by Sanders are consistent with that of the German shepherd, P.J.," Walden said.
Officials from the forensic lab for the eastern region wouldn't comment on specifics of the examination and referred questions to Hampton police. Walden didn't provide further details, such as the number of wounds, their location on the boy's body or which ones likely caused Daryl's death.
He said the department had concluded its investigation now that detectives knew the boy died as a result of the dog attack.
"The medical examiner ruled the official cause of death as mauling by dog," Walden said.
Because Daryl never showed up for school Friday, police think that the attack happened that morning. Daryl Sanders was a second-grader at Tarrant Elementary School.
Two siblings found P.J. standing over Daryl's body shortly after they returned home from school, police said.
Police, paramedics and animal-control officers found the dog chained in the back yard about 30 feet from the family's home.
One animal-control officer described the dog's behavior as "docile and calm - not what you'd expect from a dog that just killed someone."
Eugene Falls, director of the Peninsula Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Newport News, said officers picked up P.J. three times last year for running loose.
Two other boys alleged that the same dog attacked them in a Newport News schoolyard in September 1998.
(Daily Press - Feb 24, 2000)
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