ESSEX, Vt. (Court TV) — A woman is facing charges after investigators say she allowed her aggressive dog to attack her father, killing him.
Janna Campbell appeared in court on June 16, 2026. (WPTZ)
Janna Campbell, 43, is charged with voluntary manslaughter and two counts of reckless endangerment in the death of her father, Stephen Campbell, 76. At a brief court appearance on Tuesday, she pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Police were called to a reported animal attack on March 10 and found Stephen Campbell with “severe injuries.” He was pronounced dead at the scene. Also at the home was the victim’s daughter, Janna Campbell, who owned the dog and was eventually able to intervene and stop the attack. Vaccination records list the dog in question as a large, unneutered male pit bull named “Jack.”
In a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Court TV, officers said that Janna Campbell told them that her dog had picked up the victim’s shoe from the floor, prompting Stephen Campbell to pick up the other shoe and hit Jack with it. “[Jack] just lunged at him, and I tried, I tried so hard to stop Jack,” she allegedly told officers at the scene. “Jack was just, Jack was being very vicious, I can’t stick up for him. It wasn’t right.”
Janna Campbell’s son told police that Stephen Campbell had dementia; officers confirmed with his doctors that he had been diagnosed with “major neurocognitive disorder,” which is the medical term for dementia. An autopsy found numerous bite marks and lacerations to his neck, face and both arms, along with a compound fracture of his right lower leg and a broken neck. The death was ruled accidental.
This wasn’t the first time Jack attacked a human. In an incident in January, the dog attacked someone who had come to the house to make a delivery. After suffering severe injuries, the victim in that case asked for the Essex Town Selectboard to hold a “potentially vicious dog” hearing. At the hearing, while the board found that the dog had been on its own property at the time of the attack, it ordered its owner to take immediate action to keep others safe. Those requirements included confining the animal when nonresidents came to the home, proper signage warning about the dog, training for the dog and owner and muzzling equipment for the animal.
Stephen Campbell was killed in a dog attack. (Facebook)
In a statement immediately following the deadly incident, Essex Chief of Police Ron Hoague said in a statement, “Regular follow up with the owner has been completed and, to date, EPD believes the owner has complied with the orders of the Selectboard.” However, in a statement issued announcing the charges, investigators said that they found a “pattern of violent behavior” and found the dog had attacked three other people on five separate occasions before killing Stephen Campbell.
The defendant told officers that she was the sole owner of the dog after its previous owner, her boyfriend, went to jail.
Janna Campbell voluntarily surrendered Jack to the custody of the town; the dog was taken to the Chittenden Humane Society and euthanized. Under the conditions of Campbell’s release from jail, she is not allowed to provide any direct care for the two dogs that live in her home, and is not allowed to buy, adopt, foster or care for any other animals.
