A 50-year-old Florida woman is dead, two dogs are headed for euthanasia, and their owner is sitting in a Brevard County jail cell.
And according to investigators, none of it should have been a surprise.
Fox News Digital reported on June 7, 2026 that Jodi Cowan was mauled to death by two dogs named Max and Mako in Cocoa, Florida. The dogs belonged to Linda Cutler, who has been arrested and is now in jail.
Cowan had lived on Blue Bonnet Drive for about two weeks. She was walking her small dog after midnight when the two animals attacked.
A neighbor’s security camera captured the attack. Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey described the video as extremely troubling and graphic.
Cowan’s partner, Donnell Smith, tried to drive the dogs away with a knife while he called 911. Cowan was taken to a trauma center and died about four hours later.
Here is the part that turns a tragedy into a criminal case.
Fox reported that investigators found Cutler knew her dogs repeatedly got out of her yard and had attacked people. One of the dogs had previously bitten a neighbor badly enough to require medical treatment.
This was not a freak first incident. Neighbors had called the sheriff’s office at least 14 times about Cutler’s animals since October 2024.
Sheriff Ivey said animal services officers had issued Cutler at least five citations carrying hundreds of dollars in fines. The system flagged this household over and over.
Investigators were careful about one point. Fox reported they found food and water at Cutler’s home and documented no signs of neglect.
This was not about starving, mistreated animals lashing out. It was about an owner who, by the sheriff’s account, knew exactly what her dogs were becoming and kept them anyway.
Fox reported Cutler indicated after the mauling that both dogs were growing more aggressive, even toward her. She apparently saw the danger up close and still did nothing to stop the threat she had created.
Her behavior after Cowan died does not help her case. Fox reported Cutler checked into a nearby beach hotel after the attack and allegedly pretended to have a heart attack when officers came to arrest her.
ClickOrlando reported that Judge David Koenig would have granted a $250,000 bond. But Cutler’s prior bond was revoked, which is what is keeping her behind bars.
The judge also barred Cutler from ever possessing or owning animals again. Local coverage reported she faces a manslaughter charge and is being held without bond.
Florida law gives prosecutors room to pursue cases where an owner allegedly knew a dog was dangerous and someone was seriously hurt or killed.
The official Florida Senate text lays out how the law treats dangerous-dog attacks that lead to severe injury or death:
An owner of a dog that has not been declared dangerous which attacks and causes severe injury to, or death of, a human is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
An owner of a dangerous dog that attacks and causes severe injury to a human, or an owner of a dangerous dog that has not demonstrated a prior threat to the public safety that attacks and causes severe injury to a human, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
An owner of a dangerous dog that attacks and causes the death of a human, or an owner of a dangerous dog that has not demonstrated a prior threat to the public safety that attacks and causes the death of a human, is guilty of a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. In addition, the dangerous dog shall be immediately confiscated by an animal control authority, placed in quarantine, if necessary, for the proper length of time, and thereafter destroyed in an expeditious and humane manner.
If the owner files a written appeal under s. 767.12 or this section, the dog may not be destroyed while the appeal is pending.
That is the legal framework. The human story is simpler and worse.
A woman who had just moved to a quiet street took her small dog out for a walk and never came home. The animals that killed her had been a documented neighborhood problem for more than a year.
The dogs are now being held by county animal services and will be euthanized.
Fourteen calls. Five citations.
A prior bite.
The warnings were not missing. They piled up for over a year while the person responsible for those dogs allegedly failed to contain them, until Jodi Cowan paid for it with her life.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
