Susan and Adam Withers, owners of two dogs named Apollo and Echo, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and failure to confine a dog after their dogs fatally mauled a 73-year-old woman named Jo Ann Echelbarger outside her condo in Ohio. One of the dogs, Apollo, had previously been designated as dangerous after attacking another dog and its owner in the same complex, leading to the imposition of certain requirements on the Withers as dog owners. Prior to the fatal attack, Adam Withers had been arrested for erratic behavior and admitted to using cocaine, and pathology reports later revealed that both dogs had cocaine in their systems.
The attack on Echelbarger occurred when the two dogs escaped from the Withers’ condo and mauled her while she was working in her garden. Echelbarger’s husband witnessed the attack and pleaded with police to shoot the dogs and call an ambulance for his wife, who ultimately died as a result of the injuries sustained during the attack.
The Withers were also facing a civil lawsuit from their condo association due to previous incidents involving their dogs, including one where Apollo had attacked a woman and her dog, resulting in serious injuries. The legal actions taken against the Withers in relation to the previous attacks laid the groundwork for more serious charges to be brought against them following the fatal mauling of Echelbarger.
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