A pair of vicious pit bulls with a history of violence mauled their 73-year-old neighbor to death as she was tending to her garden beds, after police found the animals had been exposed to their owner’s cocaine.
Ohio police responded to reports of an animal complaint on September 30 and found Adam Withers high on cocaine and chasing his dogs in Ashville, about 20 miles south of Columbus, according to an arrest affidavit.
Withers confessed to using the drug and told cops that his dogs were in his garage with him when he smoked it.
One of the dogs was seen dragging its hind legs and police believed both had been exposed to cocaine, but authorities never removed them from the home.
On October 17, the two dogs escaped the home again and viciously mauled their neighbor, Jo Ann Echelbarger while she was gardening.
Echelbarger suffered a broken neck and the dogs ripped off her ear, most of her scalp, and her right thumb.
She had bite marks all over her body, according to an autopsy report.
Continuing the violent rage, one of the dogs ran off down the street and attacked another woman and her two Goldendoodles.
The woman and one of her dogs escaped, but the second pup fell victim to the violent attack.
When Ashville Police arrived, one of the pit bulls charged at an officer and the cop fired his gun and killed it.
Officers found the other dog near the scene and also opened fire, killing the animal.
Body camera footage showed the moment police responded to the gruesome scene and shot the dogs dead.
A day after the brutal attack, Withers callously posted a photo of a pit bull on his Facebook account with text reading: ‘Humans are the problem.’
Withers and his mother, Susan Withers, were indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges in November for Echelbarger’s death.
Last month, a jury found the two guilty of the crime, but the victim’s family felt it isn’t enough.
Echelbarger’s children filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Wednesday against the county dog warden, Adam and Susan Withers, and the condominium association where the deadly attack occurred.
‘She did not deserve this. She was tortured and she suffered,’ Echelbarger’s daughter, Earlene Romine, told, WSYX News. ‘This is not what you expect your parent to go through. This is not what you expect to happen to anyone you love.’
Echelbarger’s son, Bill Rogers, said that he looked at the Withers relatives as ‘villains’ and blamed them for killing his mother.
Romine also said that after their mother’s death, Adam Withers was immediately hostile toward the family and carried around one of the dog’s dead bodies for the neighborhood to see.
‘He carried it out, making a nuisance, beating on the light post to get everyone’s attention,’ she said.
Echelbarger’s children believe red flags were ignored in the weeks leading up to their mother’s death that should’ve resulted in the dogs being removed from the home.
The lawsuit cites the cocaine incident and body camera footage showing police saying that the ‘dog warden won’t come.’
According to Ohio law, dog wardens have the right to seize a dog if they believe they are ‘being treated inhumanely.’
The lawsuit alleges that suspicion of accidental drugging would be grounds to argue inhumane treatment.
‘I feel like they were gambling with a lot of people’s lives that day, and she was the one who paid the price,’ Rogers said.
He added that it was ‘reckless’ and ‘awful’ to keep the pit bulls at the Withers home after the incident.
The family said that they haven’t heard from the warden and were never offered condolences after their mother was tragically killed.
The shocking cocaine incident wasn’t the only time the Withers were accused of being negligent pet owners.
The condominium association had ordered the dogs to be removed from the home in December 2023, and had obtained a court order in April to force the family to do so when they didn’t comply.
The association was in the process of putting a contempt order against the Withers family when Echelbarger was killed.
The family’s attorney, Rex Elliot, argued that the association should have contacted law enforcement earlier to have the pit bulls removed.
The wrongful death suit is asking for $25,000 as Adam and Susan Withers await sentencing.
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