LOS ANGELES, California: A man's body was found by police in the Brentwood home of Hollywood actor Ving Rhames, showing signs of being mauled to death by dogs, according to officers who were first on the scene.

With media helicoptors flying overhead, police discovered the body of the man on the front lawn of the property. However while a subsequent autopsy found that the man did not die as a result of the wounds inflicted by the dogs, the exact cause of his death has still not been determined.

Rhames, star of the Mission Impossible movies, as well as Striptease, Con Air and Pulp Fiction owns both the the property involved in the death as well as the one adjacent. Neighbors told ABC7.com that the actor has numerous dogs on both properties. Rhames was not home when the incident happened, apparently out of the country shooting a movie.

The victim has been identified as Jacob Adams, 40, of Los Angeles, who had been staying in Rhames' mansion watching over the actor's dogs. According to entertainment news site lalate.com, Adams had been a caretaker in Rhames' service for about two years, feeding and caring for the animals on a daily basis.

According to authorities, the victim appeared to have jumped the fence to try to get away from the dogs, and died sometime early on the morning of August 4.
Animal Control later arrived on the scene and took away a total of four dogs: three Mastiffs, each reportedly weighing more than 150 lbs., and one English Bulldog weighing probably 120 lbs. TMZ.com reported that although the police do not anticipate charging Rhames with a crime, the animals have to be quarantined to determine if they have rabies or other dangerous diseases.

TMZ also said that some nine other puppies also live in the actor's connected homes, which means the actor possibly owned at least 13 canines. According to Lalate.com Los Angeles County Ordinance dictates that residents are limited to only three dogs per household without a special permit.

In 1999 an LA Times article featuring Rhames, showing off Ambullneo mastiff named Samson and his three mastiff puppies — Storm, Scorsese and Cage (named after Martin Scorsese and Nicolas Cage, who Rhames worked with on the film Bringing Out the Dead). It is not known if these same dogs were involved in Adams' death.

In addition, Rhames also spoke about a 170-pound Fila Brasileiro, or Brazilian Mastiff, named Kong. These dogs - the national dog of Brazil - were "actually bred to guard slaves," Rhames was quoted as saying, even adding that “it was the only dog they found that had the temperament to guard a slave. It could be around you every day, but if you tried to run away, it would deal with you like it never saw you before.”

Yahoo also reports that the actor told Time magazine in 2001 that he had eight such Fila Brasileiro mastiffs, which according to Rhames, is "also used by US Marines in jungle warfare."

Ving Rhames was born Irving Rameses Rhames in 1959. After attending Julliard, he first appeared on Broadway in the play The Winter Boys in 1984. He continued to work in soap operas, but it wasn't until 1994 that he captured the attention of the general public with his role as Marsellus Wallace in the movie Pulp Fiction. He then continued to work on several other movies and TV shows, even winning a Golden Globe for his performance in HBO's Don King: Only In America.