Cochise County Dog Owners Convicted of Felony Charges
A pair of pit bulls killed Helene Jackson and critically injured a 53-year old man.
Dog Owners Sentenced
UPDATE 04/17/24: A Cochise County judge sentenced the owners of a pair of pit bulls to seven years of probation and a short jail stint in connection to the fatal pit bull mauling of Helene Jackson in June 2023. Judge Jason Lindstrom described the crime scene-related photos he viewed before the sentencing as "nightmarish" and like a "horror movie." Chief Deputy County Attorney Lori Zucco said during the hearing, "This is one of the most gruesome homicides that has come through our office."
Both Shimira Sanches and Ashlee Sanches, who are married, will serve six months in jail at staggered times, due to a child in their home. Shimira was ordered to start serving her term immediately. In October, Ashlee must self-surrender to the Cochise County Jail to serve her six-month term. The gruesome multi-victim attack left Jackson dead, her dog Lily dead, and Shimira's uncle, who tried to stop the dogs from escaping the property, so damaged that doctors had to amputate his left arm.
Both defendants were convicted of negligent homicide and assault by vicious animal. The maximum jail time Lindstrom could impose was one year for each. Jackson's family hoped that both women would be sentenced to the full two years. In February 2023, the pit bulls had attacked a man and his dog under similar circumstances. In December 2023, Jackson's family served a $7.5 million notice of a claim against the city of Sierra Vista for their negligence in handling the first vicious attack.
"Had the City and ACS Garcia complied with their obligations under City Animal Control Ordinance§ 90.05(8) in February 2023, Thor and Panda would either have been euthanized, or appropriate safeguards required ... The City and its animal control officers ... had a duty to protect citizens such as Helene Jackson from attacks by canines such as Thor and Panda, once the vicious and aggressive nature or such canines becomes known to them." - Michael Jackson, et al., v. City of Sierra Vista, Arizona - Notice of Claim pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-821.01
11/18/23: Plea Hearing Ordered
On September 1, the owners of two pit bulls that killed 84-year old Helene Jackson and her dog, and critically injured 53-year old Sam Sanches, Jr., in Sierra Vista in June pleaded not guilty to multiple felonies in connection to the attacks. In August, Shimira Sanches, 43, and Ashlee Sanches, 35, were charged with felony manslaughter, felony negligent homicide, assault by vicious animals, also a felony, and two aggressive dog violation charges. A plea hearing has since been ordered.
Information released in the plea hearing announcement confirmed that the first victim, Sam, is a relative that was living at the home of Shimira and Ashlee Sanches, who are married. Sam, who is Shimira's uncle, was home alone that day with a young boy and two pit bulls, "Panda" and "Thor." Sam endured horrific injuries, including the amputation of his left arm and skin grafting procedures, while trying to stop one of the dogs from jumping a cinderblock wall as Jackson walked by.
That pit bull proceeded to enter the alley and attack Helene Jackson, who later died, and killed her small dog, Lily. Then the dog returned to its yard and joined the other pit bull that was attacking Sam. Both dogs were fatally shot at the scene by Sierra Vista police officers. Both women were granted permission on Friday by Judge Jason Lindstrom to take part in a confidential settlement conference with a retired judge in an effort to reach a negotiated plea agreement in both cases.
Sam has the right to take part in the hearing, as does Jackson's husband, Mike Jackson, who is considered a victim representative, reports the Herald/Review. Both men have the right to voice their opposition or support on various legal issues, including bail, release conditions, the terms of any plea offer, sentencing recommendations and more. According to the Herald/Review, part of the hearing may focus on the attack the dogs inflicted in February, four months before the multi-victim attack.
At that time, the pair of pit bulls escaped their property and attacked a dog being walked in the area. A Sierra Vista animal control officer took custody of the pit bulls, which were not vaccinated, and placed them into quarantine. Upon release, the officer advised the Sanches' to update their vaccinations. But they never did. Thus, multiple emergency responders in the multi-victim attack had to spend two stressful weeks waiting for lab results to learn if the pit bulls tested positive for rabies.
Escalating Dog-on-Dog Attacks
In a four-month period, "Panda" and "Thor" escalated from escaping their property to attack one dog being walked in the area to escaping their property (again) to attack another dog being walked in the area, killing that dog, Lily, and its owner, Helene Jackson, and nearly killing a person in their own household, Sam Sanches. A single previous dog-on-dog attack by this pair of pit bulls led to a multi-victim attack resulting in a human death, a dog death and a human left with catastrophic injuries.
The injuries inflicted on the dog in the first dog-on-dog attack are unknown. However, it’s clear that the pair pit bulls were not declared "vicious" under Sierra Vista code at that time. The definition of a "vicious animal" under the city code is "any animal that has a propensity to attack, that bites, attempts to bite, endangers, injures or causes an injury to a human being(s) or other animal(s) without provocation, or has been declared so after a hearing by a City Magistrate, or Justice of the Peace."
08/14/23: Pit Bull Owners Charged
After an elderly woman and her pet dog were killed by a pair of pit bulls and a man critically injured by the same dogs in Sierra Vista in June, the dogs' owners are now facing five charges. Shimira and Ashlee Sanches each face charges of felony manslaughter, felony negligent homicide, assault by vicious animals, also a felony, and two aggressive dog violation charges in connection to the death of 84-year old Helene Jackson and the critical injuries of 53-year old Samuel Sanches on June 23.
The multi-victim attack occurred as Jackson and her dog, Lily, were walking in an alley between Meadowlark Drive and Calle Del Norte at about 6:00 pm. It is alleged that one of the pit bulls jumped over the owners' cinderblock wall to attack Jackson and her dog in an alley. Jackson was transported to a local hospital, where she died of her injuries. Lily was discovered dead in the alley. Samuel was seriously injured by a second pit bull belonging to the owners while trying to help Jackson.
The current medical condition of Samuel Sanches is unknown. It is also unknown if he is related to either owner, who share his same last name. We were able to locate two previous pit bulls owned by Shimira on her Facebook page, but not current ones. Online court records show the charges were filed on August 10, and a grand jury summons was issued on August 11. Both will be arraigned on September 5 in the Division IV courtroom with Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson.
06/25/23: Dog Kills One, Injures Another
Sierra Vista, AZ - On Friday, at least one pit bull critically injured a 53-year old man and killed an 84-year old woman and her small dog. The Sierra Vista Police Department (SVPD) responded to the 600 block of Calle Del Norte around 6:00 pm after reports of a dog attack in the alley between Calle Del Norte and Meadowlark. When officers arrived, they discovered a dog attacking Sam Sanches Jr., 53, in the backyard of his home. Officers shot and killed that dog to render immediate aid to Sanches.
Officers then found Helene Jackson, 84, mortally wounded in the alley behind the home, "as a second dog returned to the same yard where the first attack occurred," states the release. Officers shot and killed the second pit bull too. Jackson was transported to Canyon Vista Medical Center, where she died of her injuries Friday night. Jackson's own dog was found dead in the alley near where she was located. The three dog carcasses were transported to Sierra Vista Animal Control.
SVPD PRESS RELEASE (June 24, 2023): Dog attack leaves one Sierra Vista resident dead, another seriously injured
On Friday, June 23, the Sierra Vista Police Department responded to the area of Calle Del Norte after a 911 caller reported a dog attack in the alley between Meadowlark Drive and Calle Del Norte.
Officers arrived on the scene and found a dog attacking a male victim in the backyard of a residence on Calle Del Norte. Officers dispatched the dog and provided first aid to the victim until emergency medical assistance arrived. A second female victim was found in the alley behind the residence as a second dog returned to the same yard where the first attack occurred. The second dog was also dispatched by SVPD officers.
Helene Jackson, an 84-year-old Sierra Vista resident, was transported to the Canyon Vista Medical Center where she succumbed to her injuries Friday night. Her dog was found deceased in the alley near where she was located.
Sam Sanches Jr., a 53-year-old Sierra Vista resident, was transported to Banner Medical Center in Tucson where he remains in critical condition from his injuries.
The three deceased dogs were secured by the Sierra Vista Police Department’s Animal Control Office pending further investigation.
This is an active investigation and anyone with information relevant to this incident is asked to contact SVPD Detective Thomas P. Ransford at (520) 452-7500.
On Saturday, the Arizona Daily Independent reported that Jackson and her small dog Lily were taking a stroll in a residential alley when a pit bull "jumped a cinderblock wall-styled fence of a nearby home" and attacked them both, ultimately killing them both. Jackson sustained multiple traumatic injuries to her limbs, neck and face. She died shortly after reaching the hospital. Sanches resides in the home from where the pit bull jumped from, but apparently he is not the dogs' owner.
The role of the second dog, also described by witnesses as a pit bull, in this multi-victim attack is less clear, though police shot and killed it to stop it from entering the backyard, the first attack site. According to neighbors, a dog from the same home was involved in an injury attack earlier this year but it is unknown if that attack was reported to police. The owner(s) of the attacking dogs is apparently cooperating with the investigation being led by SVPD Detective Thomas Ransford.
The approximate location of the fatal dog mauling of Helene Jackson in the alleyway. Sierra Vista Live captured dramatic images of first responders at the scene, as well as the alley.
View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Arizona Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.Related articles:
05/04/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Family Dog Kills Infant, Critically Injures Grandmother in Iowa
03/10/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bull Mauling in San Antonio Kills One, Hospitalizes Two
03/11/21: Peer-Reviewed Study Examines Dog-on-Dog Attacks by Analyzing News Media Articles
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
Are people trying to let their dogs kill as many people as possible? Will people eventually get so used to the killings that no one will care anymore? Or will
people stop breeding pitbulls and figure out that pitbulls can and will kill people?
A friend in doggy school told me she crated every one of her dogs if a baby or young child came over. Yet I don’t think any of her dogs were dangerous.
Maybe pitbull owners are stupid and careless. I like my dogs too much to allow an attack. Attacking dogs are usually euthanized.
Owning a dog that may very well hurt someone is a stupid and careless thing to do.
Yes, they are trying to normalize death by supposedly domesticated dogs. When I posted on my small town’s fb group about a loose pitbull menacing me while I was walking with my dog, people went ballistic. A few were supportive but many were not. I was called an idiot and told “pitbulls aren’t aggressive”. When I presented statistics, one said “That’s only feral pitbulls” and another said “Deer kill more people”. They absolutely want to normalize it – when a pit kills a baby, they’ll say “Well, a dog of ANY breed should never be left alone with a child” (even though often the baby isn’t even alone with the dog), as though killing a child if the dog is not hovered over at every moment is normal domesticated dog behavior. Makes me furious.
Those weren’t “people”. This is spiritual in nature and an evil force is working through all of those minds and typing fingers.
Truth is attacked in this matrix by all the agents working for the evil one.
I’m so tired of it ALWAYS being pitbulls, because let’s be honest it is 90% of the time. I’m tired of hearing it’s not the breed it’s how they’re raised, that’s not true. Just like human genetics are carried down, animals are no different than humans with predictable genetic disorders aggression being one. I remember not too long ago the founder of a pitbill group was mauled to death here in AZ by his own pitbulls. Enough is enough and people need to open their eyes to this breed.
People today accept killer dogs. “They were abused.”
How is any dog more important than a baby? Years ago farmers shot aggressive dogs. Pitbulls wouldn’t have survived. Many if not most Americans don’t want to hear of pitbulls killing people. Just sweep it under the rug.
This is so true! If you try to tell most people that pit bulls are dangerous they will argue with you about how great these dogs are and when you send them stories of their victims they start screaming about the gruesome stories being toll upsetting and they don’t want to ead them! Leving you with the only option of getting out of their lives to protect your own even if they’re family or long time friends and it’s just sad! What do you d when the mailers explode? Tell them you told them so as t the sir children lay dying in the hospital or worse the neighbors little ones?
Sorry there doesn’t seem to be a way to correct all of those typos! I’d have never been a good secretary!
What was the name of the pitbull-group founder who was mauled to death?
Darla Napora. ISTR that the organization was called Bad Rap.
As tragic as this case is, I think that it’s a good thing that it happened in Cochise County rather than here in Pima County, Arizona.
Why am I saying such a thing?
Because Cochise is a much more rural county than Pima, and in rural counties, unruly animals get put down all the time.
Over here in Pima, if the police had shot the dogs dead, there would have been a huge public outcry. To the point where our local animal rights mafia would be doxxing those officers.
After all, we wouldn’t want to hurt the poor widdle doggie woggies, now would we? I mean, come on, they were just trying to play and they didn’t mean to harm anyone.
So, why not guide them gently off to the $22 million Pima Animal Care Center and adopt them out to some other loving fur-ever home?
(Sarcasm off.)
A Sierra Vista community website brings a comprehensive overview of dog attacks in recent years. On this attack, a resident brings up the livability of the area, an important point for the entire state, including tourist travel to Arizona.
The SVPD is fielding calls from across the country regarding this death.
Community outcry over woman mauled to death in dog attack
https://www.myheraldreview.com/news/crime/community-outcry-over-woman-mauled-to-death-in-dog-attack/article_86ba9978-143f-11ee-930e-57f631811f49.html
I was able to read the entire article via the above link.
YQN, thanks for the feedback. Perhaps you are not hitting a paywall due to being an Arizona resident.
YQN, thanks for the feedback. Perhaps you are not hitting a paywall due to being an Arizona resident.
Colleen, as soon as I sent the link to the blog, it closed on me w a paywall for several tries. Please advise if this works for you and others after I just sent this to your email.
BTW, have you noticed that DBO links are never featured in Google Alerts?
We went quite a while without a death by dog, now it seems we’re making it up. Dogs are one of the reasons I want to retire and go somewhere rural, where I can’t hear the neighbors dogs bark, and if they come onto my property I can dispatch them.
People in rural areas can have dogs get lost. Beagles and coonhounds can get lost hunting. I am in a rural area, and my family’s dog years ago was killed by a pitbull.
What I do is catch the dogs if at all possible and turn them over to Animal Control to take them to the county’s no kill shelter. This gives the owner a chance to claim them. I think the last dog I caught was a cattledog.
I laughed when I was talking to a neighbor and saw a dog there. I said at least I know where he lives. I’d sent him to doggy jail once, but other folks had sent him twice. He was a small harmless dog.
I have no tolerance for loose pitbulls.
I’ve had umpteen people try to get me to board them. I don’t deal with pitbull dogs or their owners.
This exemplifies why people who choose to own bloodsport dogs should have the same insurance and containment criteria as people who own bears or tigers.
I think the time is right for the national media to get involved by having a major network produce a segment or investigative report on the current public health crisis this country is in with the overabundance of this extremely dangerous killer canine breed, the pit bull. I guarantee it would have huge viewer ratings. It would be controversial as pit bull lovers are a cult of sort and nothing is going to get them to change their minds. What it may accomplish however is to educate those who have no knowledge of the danger of pit bulls and may literally save lives. Personally I always knew pitbulls were viscous animals but until I stumbled on to this website, I had no idea of the magnitude of the problem. The vast majority of Americans have no idea either. Until the story is told on a nationwide television prime time news story, the killing and maiming of humans by pitbulls will continue and increase exponentially. How do we get this to happen?
Eddie Jay, As a broadcast journalist I have tried repeatedly to get 60 Minutes or 20/20 to cover this issue. And, you’re right, it very controversial. The only national show that will even touch this subject is Inside Edition. Last year, I really thought when the two children in Tennessee was mauled to death by their “family” pit bulls (and their mother gravely injured) that that story would be covered far and wide. The New York Post and some London newspapers went fairly deep. But no big national TV coverage. Why? Follow the money; the behemoth pet industry that advertises heavily on the networks, the heavily funded Humane Society and the ASPCA. Yes, it’s despicable. I honestly don’t know what it will take to educate the public to the threat from these bloodsport mutants. As you know, the shelters pose these killers in party hats and rabbit ears. People are duped into thinking a dog is a dog is a dog. The dog sitter who was mauled by 2 dogs (one a pit mix) and faces a life of misery is still appearing on national TV, recently on Dr. Phil. Judge Judy is also a pit hater. I love it when she reams out pit owners. Colleen Lynn is an incredible investigative journalist with a lot of guts. More and more people are becoming aware of this site, not enough…but there’s some hope the message will be heard.
Heavily funded Humane Society and the ASPCA? Well, what is the source that funding?
Are the funds just falling out of the sky? Is it being unearthed like buried treasure?
I didn’t think so.
Instead, these organizations are being funded by people who are donating their hard-earned money.
Want to dry up that source of funding? Well, that’s easy. STOP donating!
I wish that was only who was funding these people, Quiet–it would be so much easier.
But…buy a bag of dog food and they send a portion of your money to this organization or that one. Buy a dog toy and 10% goes to some pitbull saving shelter. The list is endless. The pet industry is supporting these cultists and sadly, pet owners have no way to stop this egregious use of their money because we all need that bag of kibble once a month.
The amount given by your sad, cat-loving granny is nothing compared to the kind of money being shoveled into this nonsense by billionaires and corporations.
What’s completely absurd is that while the average pet owner buys say, a mid-cost pet food that’s supporting all this insanity, pitbull owners overwhelmingly buy the cheapest no-name cancer-causing corn-stuffed kibble from the grocery store.
As for all the mainstream media, well there’s a pantload of non-mainstream media right now that gets far more eyeballs on it than legacy media. It’s some of those channels that may eventually be able to get the word out–except for them, it means being harassed and their channels silenced by the pitbull lobby cultists when they have bigger political fish to fry.
All we can do is that this becomes controversial enough for them to start covering it, in depth, at some point.
Boni, thank you for that info, I did not know the pet companies were doing this, it makes total sense though.
Why wouldn’t the pet industry be a major funder?
I mean, come on. Think of the virtue signaling! Especially from being publicly associated with RESCUE groups!
Add in every clout-chasing celebrity and idiot influencer shilling on TikTok.
They don’t even know what’s in their lipstick but by the Doggess, they are sterling professionals on how misunderstood pitbulls, are.
First class ticket to “saving the victim” status. Only the victim is an apex predator.
The more pit bulls are sold to irresponsible people, the more dangerous the world is getting. I don’t go out for walks any more. I would rather die of a heart attack than to be mauled to death by a dog.
Thankfully the prosecutor was able to put together a criminal case against the owners. We definitely need to see more of these cases to shake up the pit bull advocacy community.
I am 84 years old and had a Pitbull attack me and my 7 pound “Yorkie”. My wounds were not bad, but my dog had several ribs broken and bleeding wounds. I took him to an emergency Vet and spent $2,000 for his wounds.
As a person who has visited and enjoyed Sierra Vista, it’s encouraging to see that this tragedy is being prosecuted somewhat appropriately.
Although If I were wearing the judicial robe, I would have at least sentenced the pit owners to being pilloried upon the “Wheel of Progress” for an hour so that they duly and justly receive a showering of eggs, rotted produce, barnyard manure, and other items that tend to splatter but not bruise. Last word from the bench- would acknowledge excited expectation for the sliver lining looming on the horizon in the way of a civil tort claim of truly epic proportions won on behalf of any plaintiff against the two defendants. {who hopefully aren’t moving to a town near you.}