New details revealed after Oregon woman killed in dog attack

MYRTLE POINT, Ore. (KEZI/CNN) – Investigators say a dog that killed an Oregon woman in her own apartment had a history of violence. They say a visitor was dogsitting the animal and left it in her home about twenty miles from the coast. The woman’s kids came over and that’s when the dog attacked.

The district attorney says 42-year-old Amber LaBelle was brutally attacked in her apartment in Myrtle Point last Friday by a 120-pound grey pit bull American bulldog mix.

District Attorney Paul Frasier said Sara Nicholes from Springfield owned the dog. And, the dog attacked two children in Springfield in July of this year. Now, investigators are trying to figure out how the dog ended up in Coos County.

LaBelle’s ex-boyfriend and father of her two daughters, Josef Dieckman, said he’s certain there’s no way she knew about the dog’s past. “There is no way,” he said. “Even if she was watching it for someone, that she would’ve voluntarily and knowingly allowed a vicious dog, a violent dog, into her space, not only with the kids there, but around herself.”

Neighbor April Shaw told KEZI’s Grace Smith she rushed to help when they heard one of LaBelle’s daughters, who escaped the apartment, yelling for someone to call 9-1-1. The five- and eight-year-olds saw the whole thing.

“Not knowing how bad it was, I just ran directly to her apartment to help her,” Shaw said. “From there, it was a pretty bad scene. We had another neighbor holding a dog back, a pretty big dog, and I just ran past the dog and went straight to Amber. She, she was unresponsive at that time.”

Police said when they arrived, the dog tried to attack one of the officers and they shot and killed it.

LaBelle was flown to Riverbend but she died Saturday morning.