Trial date set for father, son charged in deadly Kansas City dog attack
A trial date has been set for the father and son charged in connection with a November dog attack that killed a Kansas City man and severely injured a neighbor.
According to charging documents, the two Kansas City men are alleged to have caused the death of Chris Culbertson and serious physical injury “by owning or harboring dogs, known by the defendants to be aggressive, and failing to adequately control said dogs.”
John Thibeaux I and John Thibeaux II were each charged with first degree involuntary manslaughter and second degree assault and are set to appear in court July 6, 2026, according to Jazzlyn Johnson, director of communications at the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
The men owned the dogs that attacked Culbertson as he was bicycling through the Marlborough East neighborhood Nov. 2, 2024, according to court documents.
Over 23 minutes, the pack of dogs bit Culbertson 300 times.
The attack
According to the probable cause statement, police responded to the neighborhood at 9:50 p.m. that night, where they found Culbertson outside the fence being attacked by “numerous dogs.”
Officials used horns, sirens and lights to scare the dogs away from Culbertson, according to KC Pet Project documents obtained by The Star. Holly Lane, a neighbor who ran outside with a golf club to try to protect him, was also attacked and was able to run back inside for her own protection.
KC Pet Project said in a statement on May 22, that the Kansas City Police Department was in charge of the scene and led the investigation, while KC Pet Project worked as on-site animal control under police direction.
Officers witnessed the dogs going back behind the fence through holes large enough for them to pass through, according to court documents.
Police told the animal service officer who responded to the scene that John Thibeaux Sr. was at there and had the key to the padlocked fence.
The probable cause statement said Thibeaux Sr. arrived shortly after the first attempt to capture the dogs, initially saying he lived there. After being informed of the attack, Thibeaux Sr. allegedly recanted and said he didn’t live there, the dogs weren’t his and that everything belonged to his son. After calling Thibeaux Jr., the father told police only one dog belonged to his son, and the rest were strays.
One officer described being able to put one red pit bull in the truck as the others were trying to attack through the fencing: “… through another attempt to gain control of another Pitbull type canine, it and another Pitbull type canine forcibly grabbed my catchpole and ripped it out of my hands and into the yard,” the document reads.
A second animal service officer arrived on the scene and described seeing multiple law enforcement officers walking around with shotguns.
“After the SWAT team used pepper spray on the dogs, they no longer were coming to the fence and we were unable to gain entry to the property safely and the scene was cleared with only one dog impounded,” the officer wrote in the KC Pet Project report.
They later located the dogs seemingly dumped about two miles away and euthanized them.
Previous issues with dogs
According to a press release from the prosecutor’s office, the younger Thibeaux ran a dog breeding business and advertised puppies for $200 on social media. An animal control officer found nine puppies at his house the day after the arrest, according to charging documents.
Months before the fatal attack, Thibeaux Jr. allegedly had to get sutures after one of his dogs bit him as he was attempting to break up a dog fight
Neighbors told detectives that the men’s dogs regularly escaped the property and previously killed multiple chickens and attacked a cat and a small dog, documents show. One residents said she only allowed her children to play on the porch, so she could get them inside if she saw Thibeaux’s dogs coming.
In February, KCPD took the younger Thibeaux into custody for questioning about the case and later released him.
The Star had previously contacted Thibeaux Jr., who declined repeated requests for comment.
Culbertson’s death led to public outrage, and KC Pet Project’s handling that night along with numerous complaints resulted in Kansas City’s City Council voting unanimously to retake animal control from the nonprofit, starting July 30.
Previous reporting from The Star’s Eleanor Nash and Mike Hendricks were used in this piece.
