Woman whose dogs killed a Kennewick business owner is back in court. Here’s why

A woman, whose dogs attacked and killed a Kennewick business owner, is getting a second chance to keep working while serving her sentence.

When Sara Amilia Madrigal, 35, was sentenced to 10 months in jail, she was given the option to keep working while returning to the jail to serve her sentence.

However, problems with paperwork required her to be booked into the jail to serve the sentence.

After a Monday morning hearing, she is getting a second chance to continue working as a caregiver for her brother.

Madrigal was sentenced in July after pleading guilty to the dog attack resulting in injury or death.

Court documents show that her two pit bulls involved in the attack that led to the death Billene “Billi” Cameron had been declared dangerous and had a history of getting loose.

When Judge Diana Ruff sentenced her, she allowed the woman to serve the sentence through the jail’s work release program.

This program allows people convicted of crimes that would normally be served in the county jail to continue to hold down a job. They have to return to the jail after their shift.

While the judge can allow it, it’s up to jail officials to agree to let the person serve their sentence in the program.

Madrigal’s attorney, Michael Vander Sys, told Ruff that they had already worked with the jail to find out if she was eligible for the program before her sentencing.

But after her sentencing, jail officials said they couldn’t verify her employment, so Madrigal turned herself in and began serving her sentence.

“Her sister was able to get all the paperwork needed. ... I can make the record that we have it now. We have the record that she works as a caregiver for her brother, we have her pay stubs. We have everything that shows that she is actually doing this for a job.”

Deputy Prosecutor Tyler Grandgeorge said he was relying on the judge’s decision, but did point out that Madrigal was sentenced to jail with the possibility of work release.

“Ultimately, the state does think that work release is appropriate,” he said.

Ruff did allow her to have another chance to have work release, this time with a deadline of Oct. 15. If she is turned down again, Ruff said she would need to serve the remainder of her sentence.

Dog Attack

Madrigal’s two pit bulls attacked Cameron in her yard when she tried to stop them from hurting her small dog on Sept. 20, 2023. She was able to carry the smaller dog inside, but the pit bulls bit her legs and followed her inside.

Law enforcement found and caught the dogs when they arrived.

Cameron came out of her house bleeding profusely and in shock while investigators were talking with witnesses. Paramedics applied a tourniquet before she was taken to a hospital.

She later died from medical complications because of the attack, according to court documents.

When officers found Madrigal after the attack she allegedly told them that she had kept the dogs in the backyard in part because she didn’t believe it was safe to have them in the house around her children.

Officers said she appeared remorseful and told them she had found a hole under the fence earlier that day and had been working to fill it in and cover it so that if she found the dogs, they wouldn’t be able to escape again.

Benton County Animal Control officers previously declared the dogs dangerous after they attacked a man in 2021.

A month later the dogs got loose again and she had to apply for permits to keep them. She took ownership of the dogs after her ex no longer wanted to be responsible for them.

This story was originally published October 8, 2024 at 5:00 AM.