5-year-old girl found dead in Graham with aggressive dog guarding her body
Aug 14, 2026, 6:50 AM | Updated: 3:03 pm
Closeup of the Pierce County Sheriff's Office insignia on one of its vehicles. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
A five-year-old girl was found dead in Graham on Thursday after her grandmother reported her missing.
At approximately 6:11 p.m., the grandmother called 911 to report that the child wasn’t at her home near 39th Avenue S.W. and 92nd Avenue E., according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO).
The girl was last seen on the outside deck of the home and was missing for roughly 10 minutes before the grandmother made the call to 911.
“Their child hadn’t been missing long. There’s some woods around, and family had thought she’d be wandering in the woods or, you know, maybe someone had taken her,” PSCO Detective Josh Mills said.
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Deputies find aggressive dog near the child’s body when they arrived
As PCSO deputies arrived, they located an aggressive dog near the child’s body. The dog wouldn’t allow law enforcement to go near the girl, PCSO stated.
“They discovered the child’s body in the yard of the residence. A large, aggressive dog was between them and the child. The dog would not let them to the child. They had to shoot the dog as it was aggressive, and they couldn’t get to the kid,” Mills said. “Unfortunately, the kid was deceased. It was a five-year-old female child.”
Deputies shot and killed the dog so that they could tend to the girl. The girl was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives said the child’s injuries are consistent with an attack by a large animal, but it’s not yet confirmed that the dog shot by deputies is responsible.
“She has wounds consistent with a large animal attack. The dog was a large animal, but no one saw or heard anything,” Mills said.
The girl and grandmother were visiting the home and preparing to go camping, and the child had been around the dog before.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has taken custody of the girl’s body and will determine the official cause and manner of death. Investigators are working to identify which animal killed the child and whether it was the dog that confronted deputies or possibly another animal.
No additional details about the child or her family have been released.
Contributing: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio
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