Female arrested after her dementia-stricken mother, 76, was mauled to death in home with 54 dogs

A Colorado woman is facing criminal charges in connection to the mauling death of her elderly mother by 54 dogs in their home, according to authorities.

Officers with the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office arrested 47-year-old Jessica Hoff on Friday — more than a month after 76-year-old LaVonne Hoff was found mauled to death in the home they shared in Colorado City.

Police said the victim suffered from dementia and ‘required 24-hour care.’

The daughter reportedly was charged with criminal negligence resulting in the death of an at-risk adult. She also was charged with 54 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals — one count for each of the dogs found inside the home.

Hoff was booked into the Pueblo County Jail on a $50,000 bond, according to jail records.

On Feb. 3, deputies with the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an unconscious woman. Officers found the 76-year-old dead at the crime scene as well as dozens of dogs “running loose in the home.”

Autopsy results determined that the cause of the elderly woman’s death was wounds suffered during the dog attack.

Police said the victim suffered from dementia and “required 24-hour care.”

The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, “Sheriff’s detectives conducted an extensive investigation and learned that Jessica Hoff had left her mother at home alone with her dogs that day while she went to Pueblo to run errands.”

Detectives determined that the pack of dogs mauled to death the dementia-stricken mother after her at home alone.

Detectives executed a search warrant on the home and reportedly found 54 dogs and seven birds.

The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office noted that the dogs and birds were found “living in unsanitary conditions, and several of the dogs were in poor health.”

A county animal agency later seized the neglected dogs.

Hoff is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

Approximately 4.5 million dog bites occur each year in the United States, according to DogBite.org. Of the victims, nearly 1,000 require medical treatment at a hospital for nonfatal dog bite-related injuries each day.

Between 2011 and 2021, a total of 468 Americans died from being bitten or struck by a dog, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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