While not discounting the significance of the dogs making a lot of noise in this case, it should be pointed out that we have a lot of wild dogs out here in Brookfield, and they can often be heard howling at night, which in turn sets off a lot of the domestic dogs...Just saying - it could have been the wild dogs that set off the pet dogs howling. Our two join in sometimes, from the verandah - a very eery sound.
Why would a local woman and mother of 3 children go out walking in semi-rural area, without lighting at night knowing there are wild dogs around the local area? Most unlikely in my opinion. However, there could be other possible means of her being in that area around that time i.e. taken there in a vehicle, but got out of vehicle? MOO.