COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Two people are facing charges after two of their dogs allegedly killed a woman and a dog in Pickaway County.
On Oct. 17, a woman was attacked by two dogs while she was tending to her flower bed at her Ashville home on Kildow Court, according to the Pickaway County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. JoAnn Echelbarger was taken to a hospital in Columbus, where she died from her injuries.
Ashville police arrived at Echelbarger’s home, where both dogs were located. An officer shot and killed one dog, which reportedly became aggressive towards him, but the other dog ran away from the scene.
The second dog allegedly attacked and killed another dog near Teays Valley East Middle School, before being located by deputies with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office. The owner of the dog that was killed was reportedly able to escape.
A deputy reported that he ran over the dog, which was in the vicinity of a park and another residence, which included a dog outside in the yard. The deputy shot and killed the dog before it could attack anyone else, according to the Ashville Police Department.
A 911-caller told the operator that she was witnessing one dog attack a man and his dog before the other got loose and approached her, but did not attack her. She also reported that she and other neighbors have had trouble with the dogs before and that the dog warden and local police have been aware of other incidents.
An investigation alongside the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office and the Pickaway County Dog Warden, led police to Adam Withers and his mother, Susan Withers, who also lived in Kildow Court. Both were arrested on Monday without incident, and were charged with involuntary manslaughter and failure to restrain a vicious dog.
Adam Withers, 35, has previously been charged with owning a dangerous dog twice, facing two counts in May 2024 and one count in Dec. 2023. He was also charged with owning an unconfined dog in Oct. 2023. The dangerous dog charges were dismissed in court, with prosecutors citing insufficient evidence, while the defendant paid a fine for the unconfined dog charge and waived his right to a trial.
Susan Withers, 61, had no prior charges related to dog ownership.
On Monday, a Circleville Municipal Court judge issued each suspect a $500,000 bond, and both bonds were upheld Tuesday during their respective arraignment hearings. Neither are allowed to have any contact with the victim’s family or to have any custody or control over dogs.
Several neighbors on Tuesday afternoon said the dogs had a history of issues.
“That woman should not have been attacked like that, should have been something done last year,” resident Connie Reed said. “It’s been a few years we’ve been fighting with these dogs, and nobody’s done anything until now of course, it killed somebody.”
911 calls from last week were also released. In one of them, the caller mentions previous problems involving the dogs.
“She was a nice lady and it should never have happened to her. Shouldn’t have happened at all because we’ve been through this with my neighbor last year; the dogs attacked her and her puppy,” Reed said about a previous incident.
Body camera video from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office shows deputies talking with an Ashville officer. He said the dogs came after him when he opened his door.
“This one was deemed dangerous about three months ago from your guys’ warden,” the officer said in the video.