Person family paid then dumped dead horses into icy creek

By ELLEN KOLMAN - Staff Writer - ekolman@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

WINDSOR TOWNSHIP March 20, 2009 05:29 pm

— Law-enforcement authorities are close to solving the mystery of two dead horses found submerged in a creek along South Windsor Road Extension in February.
According to a press release from the Ashtabula County Prosecutor’s Office, the horses, a mare and a filly, belonged to an Amish family in Trumbull County and died of natural causes.
“The mare died of colic, and the filly was tied up to keep (her) away from the mare, and she strangled herself. It was an unfortunate and terrible accident,” said Donna Yan, an Ashtabula County Humane Society agent.
According to the press release, when the horses died, the Amish family got a quote from someone who offered to pick up and dispose of the horses. The family believed they were paying to have the horses responsibly removed. It is believed the individual removed the horses, crossed over into Ashtabula County and disposed of them into the creek. Attempts to locate this person have been unsuccessful.
According to the sheriff’s report, the two horses had been in the water for at least several weeks, since before the snow and ice. There was some decomposition of the carcasses. It appears the horses were pulled into the water by rope tied around the feet and neck.
The investigation, which covered Ashtabula and Trumbull counties, included Yan, law-enforcement agencies in Trumbull County, and the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Department.
“At least now we have an explanation,” Yan said. “I just wish we could find the man who just dumped the dead horses into the creek.”
Since the story broke in February, many people got involved to help locate the person, or people, who dumped the horses into a creek and bring the person or persons to justice. Dick Goddard, a well-known WJW Channel 8 weather forecaster, was one of those individuals. Goddard pledged on the air a $500 reward for information leading to the capture of the person or people who dumped the horse carcasses into the creek.
“The phones at Channel 8 just rang with people who wanted to help, and the reward amount grew to more than $5,000,” Goddard said during a telephone interview. “Seldom have I experienced a case where so many people would stop and ask me if they caught the people involved.
“I just wish this family who owned the horses would say who the man was who dumped their horses so carelessly into the creek,” Goddard said.