- The dogs’ owners, Susan Withers and her son Adam Withers, were convicted of several charges related to the attack, including involuntary manslaughter.
- One of the dogs, Apollo, had previously been designated as dangerous after attacking another dog and its owner in the same condo complex.
- Adam Withers had also been arrested weeks before the fatal attack for acting erratically and having his dogs loose in the complex, where he admitted to using cocaine.
Two dogs that mauled a 73-year-old woman in Idaho last year had cocaine in their systems, according to pathology reports obtained this week by the Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network.
A jury convicted the owners of the dogs, Susan Withers and her son Adam Withers, of four counts of failure to confine a dog and two counts of involuntary manslaughter last week in the attack, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY.
The dogs, named Apollo and Echo, were killed by police shortly after the fatal attack on Jo Ann Echelbarger outside her condo in the village of Ashville, about 20 miles south of Columbus.
About three weeks before the attack, Ashville police arrested Adam Withers on a disorderly conduct charge after they say they found him acting erratically and his two dogs running loose in the condo complex where they lived. Withers also told officers he had used cocaine in his garage, police said.
What happened to Jo Ann Echelbarger?
On Oct. 17, 2024, Apollo and Echo got out of the condo and fatally mauled Echelbarger, who lived next door with her husband, Stanley. She had been working in a garden on a patio space between their two condos.
When an officer arrived at the scene of the attack, Apollo charged at the officer, who shot at the dog, police said in court records. The officer then saw the second dog, Echo, standing over Echelbarger’s body covered in blood, according to the records.
Stanley, who uses a walker and wheelchair, witnessed the attack from the screened-in porch and begged police to shoot the dogs and call for an ambulance for his wife, according to video captured by a police body camera.
Echelbarger died within minutes of the dog attack, according to her autopsy report.
‘Confirmed’ exposure to cocaine
In January, Withers went on to plead guilty to the disorderly conduct charge but insisted his dogs were not exposed to cocaine. Following the deadly attack, veterinarians at Ohio State University conducted necropsies on the two 6-year-old male dogs.
Authorities sent liver samples to a lab at the University of California-Davis to scan for drugs. That lab found trace amounts of the cocaine metabolite, norcocaine.
“This confirms exposure to cocaine in this case,” the lab report obtained by the Enquirer this week said.
One of the dogs had attacked before
The condo association where the Withers lived filed a civil lawsuit in April to force the removal of the dogs.
In court records obtained by USA TODAY, the lawsuit alleges the dogs had sent several letters to the Withers advising that dogs must be kept on a leash at all times. The suit also says the dogs had bitten several people in multiple incidents.
Apollo attacked Kimberlee Black, and her Goldendoodle puppy, Nemo, in the complex, according to reporting by the Enquirer. Black suffered fractures and lacerations and had to put Nemo down because of his injuries.
The attack prompted the local dog warden to designate Apollo as a dangerous dog, which triggered additional requirements for the Withers. Dog owners in Ohio are liable for their pets’ actions. Owners of dangerous dogs must prove that the animals have been microchipped, spayed or neutered and vaccinated.
The dogs must be kept in locked enclosures when the owners aren’t with them, and they must be muzzled and on a 6-foot leash when walked. A court may order the owner to purchase liability insurance for a dangerous dog; extra insurance is required for owners of vicious dogs.
The previous attack on Black and her puppy also set the groundwork for more serious charges being lodged against the Withers in the Echelbarger case.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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