A Florida neighborhood is grappling with the aftermath of a deadly dog attack that residents say could have been prevented after months of complaints about two roaming pit bulls.
According to Fox News, Jodi Cowan, 50, died after being mauled while walking her small dog shortly after midnight on Blue Bonnet Drive in Brevard County.
Authorities say the two dogs responsible had a documented history of escaping their yard and frightening neighbors.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said Cowan had been living on the street for only a couple of weeks when the attack occurred.
The sheriff said the dogs, Max and Mako, had escaped from the property of their owner, Linda Cutler, and were roaming the neighborhood when they encountered Cowan.
A neighbor’s security camera captured what Ivey described as an “extremely troubling and graphic” attack.
The footage showed Cowan clutching her small dog to her chest while trying to escape.
The two larger dogs “began to brutally attack and maul Cowan, forcing her to the ground, viciously attacking her, and eventually dragging her across the ground for quite some distance,” Ivey said.
Cowan’s partner, Donnell Smith, rushed outside after hearing her screams.
According to investigators, Smith tried to drive the dogs away with a knife while calling 911 and attempting to help Cowan.
An eight-minute emergency call reportedly captured Smith trying to fend off the dogs while providing aid to Cowan, who remained conscious during part of the ordeal.
“It’s brutal,” Brevard County spokesperson Tod Goodyear said. “She suffered.”
Cowan was transported to a trauma center but died roughly four hours later.
The small dog she was carrying survived the attack.
“She was a great woman,” Smith told WESH 2 News. “She just loved people, loved dogs more than people.”
Investigators later determined that Cutler knew the dogs repeatedly escaped from her property and had been the subject of prior complaints.
Authorities said the dogs had previously bitten a neighbor who sought medical treatment.
Since October 2024, the sheriff’s office has received at least 14 calls related to the animals.
Some complaints involved the dogs roaming freely through the neighborhood. Others raised concerns about their care.
Neighbors say the dogs became increasingly aggressive as they got older.
“The whole neighborhood was friendly with them until they started to turn on people,” resident Dominica Midkiff said.
She said the dogs frequently escaped through or over a chain-link fence and often left residents afraid to leave their homes.
“They pinned people on their porches as people were trying to leave for work and come home,” Midkiff said. “You never knew where them loose dogs would be and who they were going to terrorize next.”
Midkiff recalled one encounter just weeks before the attack when she remained inside her vehicle because the dogs were standing nearby.
“I waited in my car until they got distracted by something else,” she said.
Ivey said Florida law limited what animal enforcement officers could do despite repeated complaints.
“While you might think that Animal Services has the authority to seize dogs that routinely escape from yards or that have even bitten someone, the unfortunate reality is that they don’t,” he said.
Animal Services issued multiple citations and fines, but the dogs remained with their owner.
Following Cowan’s death, the dogs were taken into custody and are scheduled to be euthanized.
Cutler, 29, was arrested eight days after the attack and remains jailed without bond.
During a video released by the sheriff’s office, Ivey confronted her as she entered jail.
“A woman’s dead, and two dogs are about to be euthanized because of your uselessness,” he told her.
For neighbors who spent months worried about the dogs, the tragedy has left lasting scars.
“Being her neighbor has been hell,” Midkiff said. “I am praying Linda Cutler gets 15 years.”
