Witnesses & family give conflicting accounts on deadly dog attack

Lana Bergman, 70, died Wednesday night after being violently mauled by four pitbulls. Her roommate, Joe Fairbanks, discovered Bergman’s body outside her home.

Fairbanks told News Channel 3 Lana Bergman agreed to let a couple from Oregon, their four kids and four dogs stay on the Yucca Valley property after their bus broke down. What was meant to be a few days turned into much more, according to the roommate and Bergman’s family from Los Angeles.

In voicemails to her brother Jay Barnett, Bergman insists she’s going to have the couple’s bus towed and the family gone by Thursday.

“Thursday they are being pulled out no matter if it’s raining or what,” Bergman said. “They have to leave the premises,” she said in a voicemail the day before she died.

Bergman was soon attacked and killed by the four pitbulls before those plans could happen.

Bergman’s brother, Jay Barnett, told News Channel 3 he was surprised to hear his sister allowed strangers to stay on the property and says the investigators don’t have complete information.

Barnett said he believes the situation leading up to her death was suspicious.

“She loved dogs and the story that I was told last night just doesn’t ring true with me,” Barnett said.

“When she asked them to leave the property with everything that’s when this happened. The same day,” Bergman’s sister Harriet Sagalow said.

Jay Barnett called the couple “squatters” who had “fallen on hard times” and took advantage of his sister.

According to the Morongo Basin Sheriffs Department press release, documents say Bergman cared for the four pitbulls for over the past year, calling them “family pets.” It’s unclear who told police this information.

News Channel 3’s Sarah Trott drove to the house to get more answers. When she arrived, Bergman’s estranged husband and her roommate were on the property. They were unwilling to speak on camera but explained their side of things.

They called this a tragedy to happen on the eve of when the family and dogs were supposed to leave. Between the police report, information from Bergman’s brother and stories from those on the property, there are contradicting versions of what actually happened that tragic night.

Roommate and friend Joe Fairbanks did not go into detail about his relationship to the couple and also said he was “surprised” Lana Bergman agreed to have strangers stay on the property.

Fairbanks said he found Bergman Wednesday night in the backyard and began CPR. He told News Channel 3’s Sarah Trott he was accompanied by the male owner of the bus and his son and were coming from a birthday celebration in the area.

Fairbanks said he received a text from Lana Bergman that night shortly before her death telling him the dogs got out.

Fairbanks said he believes the dogs escaped the bus and went into a gated area in the backyard. Fairbanks was not sure why Bergman went out there before being mauled and killed.

According to the police press release, officials believe the dogs were not neglected.

In regard to that release, Barnett said he has many questions about the situation surrounding his sister’s death.

“They say that she attacked the dogs with a sword, and my sister just wouldn’t do that,” Jay Barnett said.

Barnett told News Channel 3 police found a cane with a small spear on or near Bergman at the scene of her death.

Bergman’s estranged husband Allen Bergman said he is putting his trust on the authorities to get to the bottom of this. However, the information officials have seems to be incomplete with varying testimony from the people involved.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says this investigation is ongoing.

We’re told the four pitbulls will likely be euthanized.