Warning: This story contains graphic content.
The two pitbulls who murdered their Ohio grandmother last year were free to roam despite the history of the attack, even entering a cocaine stash weeks before the incident, according to a newly filed lawsuit.
Joe Anne Echelberger, 73, was killed by a pit bull named Apollo and Echo, owned by Susan and Adam Wizards suspects.
According to a lawsuit filed on March 13 on behalf of Echelbarger's family, the deceased lived in the complex only for a few months before she was killed. The two pit bulls “drawn around the common area of the reserve and eventually attacked Joanne while she was gardening peacefully.”
“Part of Joe Anne's harm was the extreme and serious conscious physical and mental pain and the extreme and serious physical and mental pain and suffering she experienced after being maliciously attacked and before her death,” the submission explained. “Some of this got caught up in some of the most frightening videos I can imagine.”
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Joe Anne Echelberger, 73, was killed by two pit bulls while “gardening peacefully,” according to a new lawsuit. (Distribution materials/Google Maps)
The tragedy was exacerbated by lifelong fear of dogs of classes, the lawsuit noted. The dog was later killed by the police.
“The attacks and final moments of Joe Anne's life were particularly frightening because Joe Anne was previously afraid of dogs that had been bitten as a child,” the lawsuit said.
“In fact, dogs are horrible, extremely aggressive and persistent in violent and aggressive behaviour, and police were forced to shoot and kill the dog to end the fear,” the lawsuit said. “And even after the bullet hit one of the dogs, it returned to Joe Anne and continued its attack before returning to Wizards' house.”
The October incident was not the first time a dog had been in trouble, according to the lawsuit. The document lists several violent or destructive cases, including dogs, including the October 2023 incident in which Apollo attacked residents and killed a dog.
The Wizards dog was reportedly ordered to leave the community in a non-enforced September 11 court order, the lawsuit said.
On September 27th, police were called to see the dog three weeks before Echelberger's death, as “Echo and Apollo had taken Adam Wizards' cocaine.”
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Joe Anne Echelberger, depicted in an undated photo with her husband, was attacked by two pit bulls, Echo and Apollo. (Delivery via Facebook / Adam Withers)
“Bodycam footage from the incident reveals that Asheville PD has called Warden's office,” the lawsuit said.
In a statement from Fox News Digital, Rex H. Elliott, the lawyer representing Echelbarger's family, accused the housing complex and the Pickaway County Dog Warden of being neglected in the situation.
“If the dog guard or condo association did the job, Joe Anne Echelberger is alive today and her family doesn't have to live with this deep loss or the constant memory of the horrifying nature of which she was killed,” Elliott said.
“These mistakes led to the deaths of my wonderful 73-year-old wife, mother and grandmother.”
Adam Wizards and his mother Susan Wizards were arrested in the incident. (Picaway County Sheriff's Office)
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Fox News Digital reached out to a lawyer representing the Withers but did not receive a response in time for publication.
