GREENVILLE, S.C. – A Greenville woman died after being mauled by two of her own dogs despite neighbors' best efforts to fend off the attack, authorities said.

Nancy Cherryl Burgess-Dismuke, 52, lost a large amount of blood after she suffered several "extremely severe" dog bites to her upper extremities at her home Thursday, coroner Kent Dill said.

Neighbors said they heard the attack and came running to her mobile home to see what had happened. They found her two boxer mixes biting on both of her arms and dragging her body back into her home.

The Sheriff's Office's preliminary investigation shows she was wrestling with her dogs in the front yard when they turned on her and became aggressive, Lt. Ryan Flood said.

"It went from looking like they were really playing to them really eating her alive," said neighbor Amber Greer, who first called 911.

Neighbor Denzel Whiteside said Burgess-Dismuke would often play with her dogs outside and put her arms in their mouths. They quickly realized the wrestling this time had turned violent when two of her dogs were tearing at her flesh.

What happened Thursday was like a scene from a horror film, according to neighbors' accounts.

Whiteside grabbed a blunt ax while roommate William Long grabbed a drive shaft beside a vehicle. They both began beating the dogs to free Burgess-Dismuke.

"When they finally got the dogs off of her, and finally got them to go, she threw her body over the fence," Greer said. "She didn’t jump; she threw her body like you never seen before. They were eating her."

Whiteside said he expected Burgess-Dismuke to survive and was shocked to hear that she had died. He wished he could have done more, he said.

"She was already so far gone. One arm was already bit completely off, the other arm was barely hanging on by a piece of meat," Whiteside said. "It was the longest 10 minutes of my life."

Once on scene, deputies applied tourniquets to Burgess-Dismuke's arm in an attempt to stop the bleeding, Flood said. She was taken by ambulance to Greenville Memorial Hospital, where she died about 10 p.m. Thursday.

The Sheriff's Office described the dogs as boxer mixes. Greenville County Animal Control took control of the two boxers, owned by Burgess-Dismuke, and took them away from the scene, Dill said.

The dogs were scheduled to be euthanized Friday, Bob Mihalic, spokesman for Greenville County, said.

Neighbor Miranda McKinney said Burgess-Dismuke was "like a little angel" who kept to herself but was friendly with those in her neighborhood.

"She was a very sweet lady. She'd get up every morning and turn the music on and that's how we'd know she was up," Long said. "I'm really going to miss her."

Whiteside and Greer said they never trusted Burgess-Dismuke's boxer mixes and did not believe they were well-trained. They said they would not let their own small dog out of their mobile home whenever they knew the boxer mixes were outside.

Burgess-Dismuke's home opens up to a fenced-in yard with a fire pit, lounge chairs and a metal dog fence covered by a tarp. Several of her smaller dogs were still on scene Friday. She was often seen outside either cooking or playing with her dogs.

Several neighbors were still visibly distraught Friday based on what took place there the day before.

Long and Whiteside said they have not been able to sleep, having flashbacks of the traumatic and violent attack.

"To see a person's bones as the dogs attack, it really gets in your head," Long said. "All I could do was try my best to save her."