If a mountain lion didn't kill Christopher Whiteley, who or what did?

[u/Texas_Monthly]

On the morning of December 2, 2020, Christopher Allen Whiteley took a shortcut through dense brush to get to Howell Road, a narrow country lane in Hood County, to hitchhike a ride to work. He never made it to his job as a housepainter.

Whitely was discovered in a dense thicket of brush the next evening with his throat torn up from ear to ear and small, thin scratches across his torso, forehead, and face. He was shirtless, even though the weather had been cold.

The Hood County Sheriff’s Office almost immediately blamed the attack on a mountain lion, making Whiteley’s death the first mountain lion fatality in Texas since records began. As news of the death spread, animal experts were called in to examine the case—they didn’t buy the mountain lion theory.

But if a mountain lion isn’t responsible for Whiteley’s death, who or what is? The story, with more details: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/mountain-lion-christopher-whiteley/

[u/Liepuzieds]

Yeah, even a house cat will often charge unknown humans to drive them away from kittens.

I want to say, as a non expert, that the actual expert opinion should be considered in cases like this. There is quite a bit of data out there about their habits, mating seasons, attack statistics and such. If they are saying that this is suspicious, I believe them.