KC men charged in deadly mauling used dogs for breeding, court documents say
Two Kansas City men charged with manslaughter Friday failed to properly care for and confine dogs with a documented violent history, prosecutors allege in a recent court filing.
John Thibeaux I and John Thibeaux II face felony charges in connection with the mauling death of 46-year-old cyclist Chris Culbertson last November. The men repeatedly denied ownership of dogs that had been terrorizing residents of a Kansas City neighborhood long before Culbertson’s death, court records show.
The two men, also known as Thibeaux “Senior” and Thibeaux “Junior”, told police the dogs were “strays” according to a probable cause statement filed in Jackson County Circuit Court Friday.
But evidence gathered from witnesses, surveillance video footage and text messages revealed the men operated a dog breeding business, according to court records.
Deadly dog mauling
Kansas City Police officers responded around 9:30 p.m. Nov. 2, 2024, to the Marlborough East neighborhood for a call about an animal bite incident. They found a man, later identified as Culbertson, being attacked by numerous dogs.
Officers used their sirens and air horns to scare the dogs away. The dogs fled behind a chain link fence in Thibeaux Jr.’s yard, where they were seen on surveillance footage before the attack, according to court documents.
Over 23 minutes, the pack of dogs bit Culbertson 300 times. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead four days later on Nov. 6 after extensive medical treatment.
Police reviewed surveillance footage of the mauling, which showed a dog outside of a fence at the Thibeaux residence attack Culbertson as he rode his bike in front of the residence.
When Culbertson fell to the ground, numerous other dogs were seen crawling underneath the fence and joining the attack, according to court documents.
A neighbor who spoke to officers at the scene of the attack said she tried to break up the dog fight armed with a golf club. One of the dogs bit her and she waited for police to arrive.
The neighbor, Holly Lane, filed a lawsuit in March against the KC Pet Project claiming negligence. The KC Pet Project had previously received complaints about dangerous dogs in the neighborhood, according to the lawsuit and previous reporting by The Star.
Lane told The Star at the time that “reflecting on how things could have been different with more resources or support is painful.”
Officers were only able to capture one dog in the Thibeaux yard the night of the mauling due to their aggressive behavior, a probable cause statement said.
Over the weekend of Nov. 8, 2024, several dogs matching the description of the dogs from the attack were found roughly two miles from the mauling. The dogs were reported by passersby who alerted the KC Pet Project that dogs appeared to be dumped and roaming the area.
According to the probable cause statement, those dogs were caught and impounded. Before the court filing Friday, authorities had not publicly said whether the dogs involved in the mauling had been captured.
Aggressive dogs feared
On Nov. 3, the day after the attack, a Kansas City Pet Project investigator found around nine puppies a few months old enclosed in wire kennels in a back bedroom.
At the time, Thibeaux Jr. claimed all the dogs involved in the attack of Culbertson were not his and were “strays,” except one tied to the porch, according to court documents.
In an interview with detectives, one of Thibeaux Jr.’s neighbors said the dogs involved in the mauling reside at Thibeaux’s residence. She said she believes Thibeaux Jr. was breeding them for profit, according to the probable cause statement.
The neighbor told detectives she had to protect her son from the dogs when she took him to school, often having to use mace and a golf club that she kept by her door to scare them away. She also said a little over a week before Culbertson was killed, the dogs attacked her cat, according to court records.
Detectives interviewed at least four other residents in the neighborhood who recounted violent encounters with the dogs; each neighbor said the dogs reside with Thibeaux Jr.
One neighbor said the dogs had eaten two of his chickens over the past few months, and that he had to carry a metal pole when he went outside to scare the dogs off, according to court documents.
Puppies for sale online
Medical records showed that Thibeaux Jr. was treated for a dog bite in September 2024. When officers later searched his cell phone, they found a text stating that he was bit trying to break up a fight between his dogs, and that he owned seven dogs at his house, according to court documents.
Police also recovered photos of injured dogs from the phone, and several social media posts made by Thibeaux Jr. advertising the sale of puppies for $200 each, court records state.
Pictures of injured dogs on Thibeaux Jr.’s phone were consistent with those involved in the attack, police said in their probable cause statement.
Thibeaux Jr. also allegedly messaged someone about the attack, and said that the dogs “all go off one another’s energy. One fight (then they) all do,’” according to court records.
As of Friday afternoon, no court dates have been scheduled in the case.
The Star’s Eleanor Nash , Noelle Alvis-Gransee, Mike Hendricks and Nathan Pilling contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 3:44 PM.
