Dog Killed My Senior Yorkie, And Owner Is Lying About Bite History. What Can I Do?

Please don't treat this as a place to attack any breed mentioned because that is not the point.

A woman's 90-pound pitbull mix came around the corner and killed my 5-pound yorkie in Lawrence, Kansas. Although both dogs were leashed, she immediately let go of her leash when her dog attacked and sat down on the ground, crying. This wasn't because her pitbull started pulling -- they came out of nowhere, so her leash still had slack when her dog attacked. It took three men (two were strangers) to pull my dog from its mouth, and she didn't even try to help them or call her dog away. The attack lasted a minute, and my dog died five minutes later from a collapsed lung and broken ribs at the vet.

She claimed that this dog has no violent history; however, every single time that I walked past her apartment, her dog snarled, barked, and jumped at us until we were several minutes away (long after we were out of sight). I've had big dogs forever, and I know that this wasn't normal, curious barking -- it was aggressive and scary to both of us, so we had to stop taking that route entirely. I could see her and her dog through the window of the one-bedroom back then, and she never even attempted to stop him from reacting like that. They were first-floor, and one time I saw him try to jump from the balcony at us. On its own, this isn't really all that relevant; however, I also just found on her Instagram that her dog DOES have a bite history -- in 2021, she posted in the same city and state that her dog had bitten another dog and now needed a gate by the door and a muzzle. Needless to say, he was not wearing a muzzle when he killed my dog, nor was there a gate at the door when I saw her go back inside.

Animal control told me that this isn't relevant information for the case because no one filed a police report in 2021. Even now, they don't really care that she lied in her report to law enforcement officials, who explicitly asked her if her dog had ever bitten another dog or reacted violently. I know the name of the vet who saw her dog after the attack, but they're refusing to follow up with them to confirm the bite. She's only been charged with having an aggressive animal and not being up to date on vaccines (these are fines from what I understand), and they're refusing to charge her with anything else (dog at large, for instance).

She's willing to pay vet bills and has put her dog down. I only had my dog a month before this lady took him away from me, and I want to take any action against her that I can. I can't sleep, I'm missing work, I cry every day, and now I'm worried about my academic performance in my grad degree because I can't focus on anything anymore. My partner and I don't feel safe in our home anymore, especially after she tried to approach me post-attack (I told her to get away from me). Animal control told me this wasn't relevant either, and they essentially let me know that the police at large will not do anything.

They told me that I can only go after her civilly now, but I don't even know where to start and am looking to know what kind of lawyer to contact. Teddy was a senior with luxating patellas and no teeth. He didn't even notice her dog before it was on top of him, but she's claiming online that her dog was protecting her and following his instincts because he probably thought my dog was a squirrel or a rat (interesting, given that the other dog that he bit was large). What are my options here? To be clear, I do not care if I lose money in this lawsuit, and I don't care how long it takes. Teddy was innocent, well-behaved, and so loved -- I just want any justice I can reasonably get for my boy.