JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The body of a man found on Jacksonville’s Westside was identified by his family and friends.
Ronald Coffman, 60, lived on Townsend Road. His body was found Saturday morning near Ricker Road.
The night after his body was discovered, Animal Control officers seized multiple dogs from a home across the street from where Coffman’s body was found. It now appears the discovery of Coffman’s body and the seizure of the dogs may be linked to a JSO death investigation.
JSO and animal control said it is an ongoing investigation.
But people who knew Coffman and those who have had dangerous run-ins with the seized dogs have revealed a lot about him and the dogs.
Two women who spoke with News4JAX said they knew Coffman very well but asked to remain anonymous because the circumstances surrounding Coffman’s death remain under investigation.
“He was a very good man. He opened his home to several homeless people. He was a very giving person,” one woman said.
“He was a wonderful dude. He helped anybody he could,” another woman said.
The manager at a convenience store located near where Coffman’s body was found said Coffman was one of his favorite daily customers who was well known to folks living along Ricker Road. Coffman lost his life along the same road he walked, biked, and drove to get to and from that store.
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While police have yet to confirm if the dogs that were seized played a role in Coffman’s death, multiple neighbors told News4JAX that for several months, the same dogs have escaped the gated property and wreaked havoc on unsuspecting people who were either walking or riding their bicycles along Ricker Road. They also said it was common to see the dogs chase after cars.
Several neighbors told News4JAX that animal control was called to the home of the dogs on more than one occasion following complaints about the dogs. The family of one of the victims showed News4JAX a picture of their loved one’s injured ankle. The ankle was bloodied after it had been bitten during an attack.
Another neighbor said he and his wife called animal control after the dogs came onto their property, killed their cat and chased after their livestock. They said at the time, they were told animal control officers could not remove the dogs because there was no solid proof that the dogs responsible for the attacks were the same dogs that came from the neighboring property.
The two women who spoke with News4JAX said they were also attacked by the same dogs when the front gate to the property was open.
“I was bitten on the leg and then I was nipped at. They got my hip area,” said the first woman who remembers being attacked by multiple dogs. “One was one side of the bike the others on the other side. I got brought down in the middle of the street.”
She said a man presumed to be the owner of the dogs ran to her from the property where the dogs came from and tried to convince her the dogs were safe. She said she gave him the benefit of the doubt and chose not to report the incident.
“They were chasing me a good deal, and I almost lost control of my bike and almost fell off. My chain came off. I pedaled so fast,” said the second woman.
But questions the neighbors still have are whether the removal of the dogs is connected to Coffman’s death and whether there is any evidence that he was killed in a dog attack.
Another question is what the dogs’ owner has to say about this.
Thanks to multiple neighbors, News4JAX learned who owns the dogs, but he can’t be identified because he hasn’t been charged with a crime.