Sentenced: Cocaine Dogs: Neither Ashville PD, Dog Warden Removed Vicious Pit Bulls From Condo Before Deadly Attack

[Sugar Cookie]

Two months after two pit bulls attacked and killed a Pickaway County grandmother outside of her Ashville condo, ABC 6 News is starting to receive records from the village requested weeks ago. That's after a lawyer for ABC6 News sent the village a letter this week regarding the delayed records requests and time expectations according to Ohio law. The next day, the village released its reports of the incident and a series of body-worn camera footage.

The first video released came from the deadly incident itself on October 17th. The first responding Ashville officer is seen getting out of his cruiser. At that time, a brown pit bull later identified as Apollo runs toward the officer. The officer fires a series of shots and Apollo is seen running away. Reports indicate Apollo later attacked and killed a dog that was on its leash and being walked by its owner. The Pickaway County Dog Warden had previously determined Apollo to be a "dangerous dog" due to a series of past attacks on dogs and humans.

Not far from his cruiser, the Ashville officer sees a severely injured woman on the ground. A man tells the officer the woman is his wife and was just attacked by the two pit bulls who live next door. The second dog later identified as Echo is seen near the victim Jo Ann Echelbarger. The officer shoots at Echo several times. The dog is then seen going back inside its condo where it died.

Echelbarger died at Grant Medical Center.

Both dogs belong to Adam Withers and his mother Susan who lived next to the victim. Their condo association had taken the mother and son to court earlier this year to get the dogs removed. A judge ordered that removal on September 11th.

ABC 6 News asked for reports and body-worn camera footage for a call on September 27th that took place after the removal order and before the deadly attack. Police say Adam Withers made that call for his dogs. Both were loose outside and unable to use their back legs. Withers admitted he had just smoked his cocaine in the garage and his dogs were with him.

"I'm going to be honest with you. Your dogs are probably going to die," the officer told Withers.

Withers was giving his dog Apollo CPR and asked, "Can't you just Narcan them or something?"

"I'm not Narcaning a dog," the officer responded.

During the body-warn camera footage, officers had told their supervisor that the Dog Warden's Office refused to come out.

"We asked the dog warden to come out. The Humane Society won't answer their phone, and the dog warden supervisor said it's not something they're dealing with," the officer at the scene told his supervisor who was on the phone. "If I charge him, what do you want me to do with these two random dogs in the middle of the road? Because the dog warden won't come out."

Ashville Police called the Dog Warden back and asked again. They told Withers what they had been told.

"They'll help you get your dogs back inside but they can't take them nowhere, okay," the Ashville officer told Withers.

"Okay. That's fine," Withers responded.

Police wanted Withers to return to his condo to show them the cocaine he said he had taken and where. Not wanting to leave his dog Apollo in the grassyards from his condo, Ashville Police offered to drive Apollo back to the condo if Withers could get him in the backseat. Footage shows Withers picked up the dangerous dog, got him into the police car and rode to his condo with him in the backseat.

Withers was arrested for disorderly conduct that night. Both dogs got loose 20 days later and attacked Echelbarger.

Both Withers and his mother have been charged with involuntary manslaughter. They said they were not home at the time of the attack.

Neither Ashville PD, Dog Warden removed injured pit bulls from condo before deadly attack

Two months after two pit bulls attacked and killed a Pickaway County grandmother outside of her Ashville condo, ABC 6 News is starting to receive records from t

abc6onyourside.com

The crackhead and his mama need to be thrown in prison.

The dog warden needs to be fired and the husband of the women needs to sue everyone involved.

I know one dog is dead but if the other is alive it needs to be put down too.


The piece of shit had the nerve to post this but he knew he is the priblem

Fucking loser and so is his mama

 

[knockout]

What a shitshow, I don't know what responsibility everyone has but seems only ones trying do do their job, were the cops

The main role of a Dog Warden is to seize stray dogs.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Two dogs that mauled a 73-year-old woman in Ohio last year had cocaine in their systems, according to pathology reports obtained this week by the Columbus Dispatch, 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.

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.

Trace amounts of cocaine found in dogs that fatally mauled Ohio woman in front of husband

Two dogs that mauled 73-year-old Jo Ann Echelbarger in Ohio last year were found to have had cocaine in their systems, according to pathology reports.

www.yahoo.com

 

[Aedia]

What an absolute mess! Those dogs probably didn't have a chance living with that pos. Anyone who exposes their animals to heavy drugs are likely abusive in other ways and if you've got a dog that has a temper and needs extra care...what a disaster that can be. Even though the last part is speculative, you ARE abusing your dogs if you're getting them high (on purpose or not).
That poor woman. It must have been terrifying being attacked by those big ass, strong dogs! Just look at those absolute units.
I agree. Sue the Hell out of them and the other dog had to have been put down too, right? Right??? Jeeze.

 

[everjaded]

Yes, the last article SC posted says both dogs were killed by police, and their livers biopsied.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Mother and son convicted in Pickaway County dog mauling death sentenced to 14 to 19 years

Susan and Adam Withers were sentenced by a Pickaway County judge to at least 14 years in prison after their two dogs mauled Jo Ann Echelbarger to death in Oct. 2024.

www.wosu.org

The mother and son who owned two dogs that consumed cocaine before mauling a 73-year-old woman to death were both sentenced to more than a decade behind bars on Wednesday.

Pickaway County Judge Matt Chafin sentenced Susan Withers, 63, and Adam Withers, 35, to prison for at least 14 years, and up to 19.5 years.

They were convicted in February on charges of involuntary manslaughter, failing to confine or restrain a vicious dog and failing to keep a vicious dog under reasonable control.

The pit bull terriers Apollo and Echo killed Jo Ann Echelbarger while she gardened outside of her Ashville home last October.

Officials say the animals had trace amounts of cocaine in their systems and police had been called to the neighborhood in the past, because the dogs were on the stimulant and had "terrorized" the community.

Echelbarger's family is suing the Withers, Pickaway County dog warden Preston Schumacher, the Reserve at Ashton Village condo association, and the condo’s property manager, Towne Properties Asset Management.

The suit states the dogs injured another woman and killed her dog before they killed Echelbarger.

According to the lawsuit, the condo association first issued a warning to the Withers in Feb. 2015, then went on to issue six additional warnings in May 2017; September 2020; April, May and June 2021; and March 2022. One of the dogs attacked a visitor in Oct. 2023 and the other dog bit a visitor the following May.

Read more

Mother and son convicted in Pickaway County dog mauling death sentenced to 14 to 19 years

Susan and Adam Withers were sentenced by a Pickaway County judge to at least 14 years in prison after their two dogs mauled Jo Ann Echelbarger to death in Oct. 2024.

www.wosu.org

The dogs, Apollo and Echo, were euthanized.

ADAM WITHERS
Sentence Information

Aggregate Sentence 3.00 HB86-5 + 11.00-16.50 SB201

Expected Release Date/Parole Eligibility Date 10/12/2038

SUSAN WITHERS

Sentence Information

Aggregate Sentence 3.00 HB86-5 + 11.00-16.50 SB201

Expected Release Date/Parole Eligibility Date 10/12/2038

 

[runninfawn]

to me at least one and only one warning to people who refuse to train their pets right and they attack another pet or a person... second time arrest the people and try to rehab the pets...i am not talking about a working dog trained as guard dog that is just doing it's job or one protecting their owner as i know my big lion of a 5 lb dog would attack and give her life up to protect me ... and yes i would even face a dog going to attack her and i have had to do twice , i nearly cried the first time cuz i hit a big dog on the nose that was trying to get to her in the basket on my mobility scooter and the second one was just a matter of using a silent whistle or what ever they are called close to it's ear and both dogs were street people's dogs that owners were too drugged up to control... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Sugar Cookie]

I think the dogs should have been put down after the first attack.

these poor dogs were ruined by mom and her crotch critter.