Families ‘at a loss’ after 5-year-old friends lose three horses, shot in the head

The Brocks and the Bretts are family friends at their wits’ ends in rural Liberty, Texas.

In November 2017, 5-year-old Rylee Brett’s miniature pony Chicken Nugget was shot and killed at close range. Just two days before Christmas, 5-year-old Arian Brock’s horse Sunny was killed in a similar fashion, according to KFDM.

Perhaps those those two killings were coincidental. But after the murder of Sunshine, the rescue palomino the Brocks bought to help Arian through the loss of Sunny, her mother isn’t betting on it.

“I see this as a direct threat,” Camie Brock told McClatchy. “We have put up extra cameras, and I believe in the blood of Jesus to protect us.”

All three horses were shot in the head, but according to the Houston Chronicle, Sunshine was killed with a bow and arrow or a crossbow. Camie Brock said that she received a phone call from her son Monday that Sunshine had been shot and was bleeding.

No arrow was recovered from the scene, however.

“She doesn’t understand how a person can be so ugly to kill her horses,” Camie Brock said when asked how her daughter was coping with the deaths of two horses in less than two months. “We’re at a loss.”

Law enforcement officials, the Brock family and others are offering a total of $20,000 in rewards for information that leads to the arrest of Sunshine’s killer. The Brock family has hired a private investigator to look into the string of equine slayings while the sheriff’s office conducts its criminal investigation.

Capt. Ken DeFoor, a Liberty County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, told KPRC that killing animals can be a gateway to more serious crimes against people.

“How long until this is not enough and this person may start harming people?” DeFoor asked.

The Brett family bought another horse for Rylee when Chicken Nugget was killed. They named Rylee’s new horse Chicken Wing, who is in good health, Camie Brock said Thursday.

The two families have eyes peeled for any new developments in their cases, but for now, they are short on answers.

“They have some leads, but will not share with me at this time,” Camie Brock said.

This story was originally published February 22, 2018 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Families ‘at a loss’ after 5-year-old friends lose three horses, shot in the head."