Dogs ‘terrorized’ Ohio community for years, then killed woman gardening, lawsuit says
_fitted.png "Jo Ann Echelbarger, 73, died after she was attacked by two dogs in an Ohio community, a lawsuit says.")
The family of a woman mauled to death by two dogs in Ohio has filed a lawsuit saying the “dangerous” dogs should have never had the opportunity to fatally attack her.
The lawsuit lists several unnamed individuals, as well as the Pickaway County Dog Shelter, the Reserve at Ashton Village Condominium Association and Towne Properties Asset Management Company as defendants.
McClatchy News reached out to the Reserve at Ashton Village Condominium Association and Towne Properties Asset Management Company but did not immediately hear back. The Pickaway County prosecutor declined to comment.
Jo Ann Echelbarger, 73, and her husband moved into her home at The Reserve community in Pickaway in June, according to a lawsuit filed March 12.
However, no one warned the couple that two dogs had “terrorized the community for years,” the lawsuit said.
Four months after moving in, on Oct. 17, Echelbarger was outside “peacefully” gardening when two dogs, Apollo and Echo, attacked her, according to the complaint.
The attack lasted several minutes and “left Jo Ann screaming for her life,” the lawsuit said.
Officers shot the dogs to stop them, and one still returned to continue attacking Echelbarger even after it was hit by bullets, according to the complaint. Both the dogs died.
Echelbarger was taken to a hospital where she died of her injuries, the lawsuit said.
“But the deadly attack should never have happened,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit points out numerous instances in which the dogs’ owners were told to keep their dogs on a leash. Between February 2015 and May 2021, five warnings were sent to the owners from Ashton Village Management telling them to keep the dogs leashed when outside, the complaint said.
In June 2021, a hearing was held and the owners were threatened with a fine if they couldn’t control their dogs, the complaint said. In March 2022, another warning was sent, threatening to terminate the dogs’ rights in the community after an altercation between them and two other dogs that February, according to the lawsuit.
Then, in March 2023, one of the dogs, unleashed, attacked someone visiting the community, the lawsuit said. Several months later, in October, the other dog attacked a resident and killed their dog, the complaint said.
In May, one of the dogs bit a visitor who was considering moving to the community, the lawsuit said. Then, in October, came the fatal attack that killed Echelbarger, according to the complaint.
Echelbarger’s death was a result of Ashton Village Management’s failure to “carry out their empty threats” and “the failures, misfeasance, malfeasance, misconduct, and breaches of duty by the warden’s office and the dog wardens,” the lawsuit said.
The dog’s owners, Susan and Adam Withers, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in February, court records show.
This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 1:37 PM with the headline "Dogs ‘terrorized’ Ohio community for years, then killed woman gardening, lawsuit says."
