(Editor’s Note: The headline in this story has been updated with new information.)
A woman was mauled to death in the village of Ashville Thursday as those around her watched and screamed for help.
Jo Echelbarger, 73, was taken to Grant Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 4 p.m.
Echelbarger lived in a condominium complex in the 600 block of Kildow Court on the village’s north side, and she was outside when two dogs broke loose from a home and began attacking people, according to witnesses.
Ashville police are handling the investigation but did not return calls for comment on Friday. Pickaway County Sheriff Matthew Hafey said the initial 911 call came in at 3:11 p.m. A second call followed about 15 minutes later.
Bert Cline, Ashville village administrator, called the incident “kind of a shock to the system,” noting that dog attacks are rare in the community.
Cline said he’d been told that legal action to remove the dogs had been filed in Pickaway County two weeks ago. He did not know why that hadn’t happened.
A woman described on Nextdoor witnessing the mauling: “I heard the screaming and ran down to see the dogs on top of her.” She said police shot one of the dogs five times, but it retreated into a home. Police entered to verify it was dead.
The other dog apparently ran away and attacked other people before it was put down.
Harrison Township shift Capt. Jeff Rosencrance said that fire and EMS units had responded to the same set of about 60 condos at least three times in the past year on reports of animal attacks.
“I can’t say for sure that these were the same animals. But the dogs involved on Thursday reside on Kildow Court,” Rosencrance said.
He described multiple injuries to the victim, calling it “a vicious and gruesome attack.”
“I’ve never heard of anything like this,” Cline said.
Sheriff Hafey, a dog owner, said, “It’s troubling. It’s unfortunate anytime someone gets injured by an animal.”
dnarciso@dispatch.com
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