Pit bulls kill 3 women, leave one in critical; one owner criminally charged

Disbarred lawyer accused in death of her mother & alleged neglect of animals

PUEBLO, Colorado––Disbarred lawyer Jessica Lee Hoff,  47,  so far the only person to be criminally charged in a string of recent pit bull attacks on middle-aged and older women,  is due to make her first court appearance on Thursday,  March 27,  2025.

Reportedly held in the Pueblo County Jail in lieu of post $50,000 bond,  Jessica Hoff “is facing charges of criminal negligence of an at-risk adult resulting in death and 54 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals,”  according to KKTV,  of Colorado Springs.

Hoff allegedly left her mother LaVonne Hoff,  76,  home alone with the two pit bulls who killed her on February 3,  2025,  while running errands.

Victim “had dementia & required 24-hour care”

“LaVonne Hoff reportedly had dementia and required 24-hour care,”  Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Gayle Perez told media.

The arrest papers,  KKTV detailed,  “say the conditions of the Hoff’s Colorado City home were not only terrible for LaVonne Hoff,  Jessica’s 76-year-old mother who was attacked by Jessica’s dogs,  but for the numerous dogs and birds living there.”

Twenty-two dogs were found alive at the home,  along with seven birds and one dead dog.

“20 more dogs in a shed”

Hoff “also had over 20 more dogs in a shed on Crow Cutoff in Colorado City,”  KKTV continued.

“Fourteen [of the 42 total impounded dogs] had to be humanely euthanized,  11 of whom were determined to have severe medical conditions.

“Three were euthanized for being involved in the attack on LaVonne Hoff.”

Twenty-eight of the 42 dogs and all seven of the birds,  KKTV learned,  have been rehomed.

“Professional misconduct”

According to court records,  “In May 2022,  the State Bar of Texas disbarred Jessica Lee Hoff for engaging in professional misconduct.  The discipline was effective on May 23, 2022.  Hoff did not alert Colorado disciplinary authorities about her Texas disbarment.”

On August 4,  2022,  Jessica Hoff was “arrested by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office on a U.S. Marshal Hold.”

On April 27,  2023,  Jessica Hoff was disbarred in Colorado for “reciprocal discipline,  which calls for imposition of the same discipline as that imposed in Texas.”

On January 23,  2024,  the Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture won a temporary restraining order against Jessica Hoff,  enjoining her from operating “an unlicensed pet animal shelter or sanctuary by harboring,  sheltering,  or otherwise possessing more than fifteen dogs,  cats,  or combination thereof,  in a central location,  without a Colorado Pet Care & Animal Facilities Act permit.”

Killed taking out her trash

WGNO reporter Mallory Smith on March 25,  2025 disclosed that,  “The New Orleans Police Department and Louisiana SPCA are investigating” the March 20,  2025 death of Barbara Stewart,  81,  who “according to family members was taking out her trash outside her home in New Orleans East,  when her neighbors dogs escaped from a fenced-in yard and attacked Stewart.

“Relatives say Stewart’s neighbor owns six pit bulls,”  Smith continued. According to the Louisiana SPCA,  two of the dogs involved in the attack are being held on a mandatory 10-day quarantine,  awaiting possible euthanasia,  while a third dog was surrendered to the agency and is scheduled to be euthanized.

Pit bulls broke through a gate

“The Louisiana Humane Law & Rescue has issued the owner of the dogs two counts of dangerous dogs and two counts of failure to properly confine dogs,”  Mallory Smith added.

“According to the Humane Law & Rescue team,”  Mallory Smith relayed,  “the three dogs escaped from a fenced yard by breaking through a gate.  The dogs’ owner witnessed at least one of the dogs biting the victim.

Louisiana SPCA executive director Ann Zorilla told Mallory Smith that “Records show animal control was previously been dispatched to the same address in 2018 to investigate dogs roaming at large,  but the dogs involved in that case are not the same” involved in killing Stewart.

65-year-old killed in Houston

KPRC in Houston,  Texas,  meanwhile disclosed that “The three dogs who attacked and killed” Harriet Phillips,  65,  on March 23,  2025,  “were Staffordshire bull terrier pit bulls,  according to BARC Houston,”  the city animal control agency.

“The dogs broke through a shared fence in the back yard of the residence,  according to police.  Police said the owner of the dogs did not witness the attack but saw his neighbor covered in blood on the back porch and called 911.

“According to animal control, the three dogs have been euthanized.”

Attacked in bed

The three-day pit bull death toll nearly rose from two to three.

Reported Andy Cordan for WKRN in Nashville,  Tennessee,  “A 911 call came in [to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office] at approximately 2:52 a.m. on Friday,  March 21 about a dog attack with a woman seriously bleeding.

“A deputy was met by the victim’s husband,  who said the family pit bull attacked his 49-year-old wife.  The husband repeatedly demanded the deputy shoot the dog in order to save his wife. The man urged the deputy to kill the dog so first responders could safely get into the back bedroom where the victim was.”

Firing ‘multiple shots,  killing the dog,  the deputy found the victim wedged between the bed and the wall.  She had bedding pulled around her,”  concealing “gaping wounds to the woman’s arms, legs,  and side.  Multiple tourniquets were applied to stop the profuse bleeding.

“The victim reportedly had deep lacerations from her elbows all the way to her armpits.”

The victim,  Cordan said,  was transported by LifeFlight helicopter to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville,  which has received at least 23 pit bull victims in critical condition since 2015.

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