Reward Offered In Shooting Death Of Craig County Family's Show Cow

Investigators are offering a reward for information that will help them find the person who shot a show cow the day before Christmas.

Bailey Mendell had raised the show heifer named Jinny for two years, competing in FFA livestock competitions. Her dad, Paul, said the animal was more like a pet.

He said he thought someone stopped in the middle of the road and shot the cow right between the eyes on Christmas Eve morning. It happened along 200 Road in Craig County, northwest of Vinita.

"It's pretty low-life. I just can't imagine what anyone would even--that it would cross their mind to even do something like that," Paul said.

"She was about, I'd say, 10 foot or so inside the fence line there," said Dusty Goforth, Special Agent with the State Department of Agriculture. "It was a pretty quick deal I'd say."

Only a few days before the show animal was killed, someone shot out the windows of a pickup and a house in nearby Vinita. Investigators are working to see if the cases are connected.

The animal is worth about $5,000, but show animals have a value that can't be measured in dollars.

"Her initial reaction, she was just crying her eyes out," Paul said of his daughter, Bailey.

He said he couldn't believe what happened, especially since the gunman didn't kill the animal for meat and just left it right where it fell.

"Somebody with no respect for somebody else's property, no feeling toward animals," Paul said.

Goforth said, "Well, I think it's a senseless act. It's something that's pretty cruel just to pull up and shoot an animal for no reason, you know?"

An $8,000 reward is being offered for information in the case.

Anyone who has a tip that could help in the case is asked to call the State Department of Agriculture at 405-522-6102.