An Alabama sheriff says a public health worker was killed by dogs after she went to a home to follow up on a report about dogs attacking and injuring another person days earlier.

Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said the dogs’ owner, Brandy Dowdy, 39, has been charged with manslaughter and with violating Alabama’s dangerous dog law, WTVA-TV reported. Jail records on Sunday did not show whether she is represented by an attorney.

Oliver said deputies on Friday saw several dogs attacking people south of Red Bay, and that led to one person suffering minor injuries and to some dogs being euthanized.

Deputies were in the area to investigate an unknown vehicle and they found the body of Jacqueline Beard, an Alabama Department of Public Health employee. Oliver said Beard was there because of a dog attack earlier in the week that sent someone to a hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, with injuries.

The sheriff said investigators believe the dogs attacked Beard as she tried contacting their owner. Red Bay is in northern Alabama, on the Mississippi state line.