Mother with dementia died from dog attack after daughter allegedly left her home alone

COLORADO CITY, Colo. (TCN) — Authorities arrested a 47-year-old woman in connection with the death of her elderly mother, who was fatally attacked by her dogs.

According to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, on Feb. 3, deputies responded to a home on Jefferson Boulevard and found 76-year-old LaVonne Hoff unresponsive with several dogs running loose. Authorities also discovered about two dozen dogs and seven birds in cages inside the residence.

Hoff was pronounced deceased at the scene, and an autopsy revealed she died from a dog attack.

Sheriff’s office detectives determined the victim’s daughter, Jessica Hoff, allegedly “left her mother at home alone with her dogs that day while she went to Pueblo to run errands.” LaVonne Hoff reportedly suffered from dementia and “required 24-hour care.”

Investigators suspect that the loose dogs attacked the victim while she was alone. Detectives searched the home and a second property owned by Jessica Hoff and discovered 54 dogs and seven birds in total. Authorities said the animals were “found living in unsanitary conditions” and “several of the dogs were in poor health.” The sheriff’s office, with assistance from Animal Law Enforcement, seized the dogs and birds.

The sheriff’s office announced March 21 that Jessica Hoff was arrested on charges of criminal negligence resulting in death/at-risk adult and 54 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals death. She remains held in the Pueblo County Jail on $50,000 bond.

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