Overview
- Two pit-bull–mix dogs named Max and Mako escaped a Cocoa yard, knocked 50-year-old Jodi Cowan to the ground, mauled and dragged her, and she died hours later from her injuries on May 19.
- Authorities arrested 29-year-old Linda Cutler at a Melbourne hotel and charged her with manslaughter after investigators said she knew the dogs repeatedly escaped and had previously bitten someone.
- Cutler was taken to a hospital after officers say she feigned a heart attack during arrest and later appeared in court where a judge barred her from possessing animals if released.
- The dogs are quarantined with Brevard County Animal Control and are ordered to be euthanized while Cutler remains in custody in part because of unrelated prior arrests; her arraignment is set for June 23.
- Court records and neighbors show a pattern of prior citations for animals at large, missed vaccinations, and guilty pleas, and the case is likely to intensify local scrutiny of how state law restricts animal-seizure authority and what changes, if any, could improve public safety.