MOCKSVILLE - People who knew Cathy Wheatcraft are still mourning, days after her death.
"Whe was a very sweet, loving, caring, and kind person and I am sorry it was a sad tragedy and it never should have happened like this,” said JoAnn Burton, the woman who was renting her home to Wheatcraft.
Burton said Wheatcraft had only been living in North Carolina for about eight months.
"She came to live with me from a homeless shelter because she had no where to go, she had nobody in her life so I told her, 'You can come live with me,'" said Burton. “She was born in Louisiana, after Louisiana they moved to Pennsylvania, then her and her mother moved to Kansas, which is where her mom passed, and then she moved here to North Carolina."
Burton said that Wheatcraft had a very loving spirit about her. One of her favorite things to do was take care of JoAnn's cats.
"She took the responsibility of my cats very seriously,” said Burton. “In fact, Max is on the porch wanting in now. The thing about it is she let me know when anything was wrong with the house or the cats."
Burton said right now, she's just trying to stay positive.
"We can point fingers and throw stones, but why? The bottom line is there's a tragedy that has occurred and I am hoping this brings awareness to people. If you are going to have an animal be responsible."
In her opinion, animal control laws need to be more strict.
"The first or second time when you are suspected of child abuse the social services will come in and remove the child,” said Burton. “To me I think that should be a law for animals too. If you are called out to a place a couple times, and I am not saying it was the animal catchers fault, [the animal should be taken away too]. I am not saying anyone is at fault but it happened.”
The lieutenant investigating the case said the sheriff’s office is still working to determine what led up to the attack. Any information will be turned over the the district attorney's office.