UPDATE: In addition to the reward being offered by the Platts, Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower spoke with The Independent, and their department is offering an additional $500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the shooting.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
The owners of a family horse, Princess, that was shot and killed in the middle of town on Friday, Jan. 22, in Newcastle are offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the shooting.
Lacey Platt, the owner of Princess, said that on Friday morning, everything was fine.
“My father-in-law fed her before he went to work,” Platt said.
However, at some point during the day, even though Princess is kept in a pasture in the middle of town, someone shot her in the head. Platt said that a neighbor said he had seen blood trickling down Princess’ head at one point during the day but that he simply thought she had cut herself or that Princess was actually another horse owned by the Platts that has a cancerous lump on her head that will sometimes ooze. When the Platts went to feed Princess again at approximately 6 p.m., they discovered she was dead; however, believing Princess had died of natural causes, they decided to wait until the morning to bury her.
“It was dark [Friday night],” Platt said. “Saturday morning, we discovered she had been shot.”
The Platts called the Iron County Sheriff’s Office and filed a report. They also searched around for a shell casing to no avail, but given the pasture’s proximity to a road, she said the shot could’ve been fired from a vehicle. Besides the one statement from the neighbor regarding the trickling blood, no other neighbors have reported hearing or seeing anything.
Platt said that the seeming lack of any motive was one of the most frustrating things.
“I wish we had a clue,” Platt said. “We’re very nice people. We don’t have any enemies. We can’t figure out why it happened.”
The Platts have owned Princess since she was a baby. She was 16 years old at the time of her death. They are offering a $2,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed Princess.
Anyone with information can make an anonymous tip to the Iron County Sheriff’s Office at (435) 867-7500. However, if someone is looking to collect the reward and still remain anonymous, since it is being offered by a private citizen, they would need to contact Platt directly. She would then pass the information along to the police department as anonymous.
Lacey Platt can be reached at (435) 231-1276.
