SHARPES, Fla. – A deadly dog attack raises questions about why two large dogs that neighbors say were always running loose weren’t taken away from the dog owner sooner.
Jodi Cowan, 50, died from dog bites Tuesday on Blue Bonnet Drive in Sharpes near the Brevard County jail.
“Some of this blame doesn’t just go to her,” Cowan’s partner, Donnell Smith, said.
Smith told your Sharpes Community Correspondent James Sparvero that while Cowan was the love of his life, he was friends with the dog owner, so he has mixed feelings about the degree of punishment he thinks his neighbor should face.
“Do I want her to rot in jail? No,” Smith said. “Do I want accountability? Yeah. There’s some other individuals that need to be looked at, some other entities that need to be looked at.”
Animal services left a note on the owner’s gate.
It reads the dogs are now with them and the owner should call animal services immediately.
Sparvero also checked records at the same address and found out that animal services gave two tickets, previously, for animals at large in 2024 and 2025.
“They didn’t do anything,” neighbor Dominica Midkiff said. “They failed us.”
Midkiff said the dogs’ names were Mako and Max.
The sheriff’s office has not addressed neighbors’ complaints about animal services.
We’ll add any updates to this story on ClickOrlando.com.