Texas teen accused of poisoning show goat of classmate she believed cheated

Texas officials arrested Aubrey Vanlandingham and charged her with cruelty to livestock animals. Photo / Instagram

When a Texas teenager fed her show goat, Willie, at her high school’s barn one mid-October morning, he seemed fine.

But over the next day, Willie’s health dramatically worsened. He had started shaking, coughing and convulsing in his pen. When his owner went to the barn the following morning, she could hear Willie “bellowing in pain”, according to a recent court filing.

He died shortly afterwards in her arms.

In the following weeks, Texas officials arrested and charged Aubrey Vanlandingham, a 17-year-old classmate of Willie’s owner, with cruelty to livestock. Vanlandingham later confessed to authorities that she had fed the goat pesticide because she believed the owner was a “cheater”, according to an affidavit filed in November. She was charged with cruelty to livestock animals, a felony in Texas, and is scheduled to next appear in court on January 15.

An attorney representing Vanlandingham did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Post on Wednesday. Attempts to reach the family who own the goat were unsuccessful.

Vanlandingham and the student who owned the goat, who the Post is not naming because they are a juvenile and not accused of wrongdoing, both appear to have been a part of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) programme at Vista Ridge High School in Cedar Park, Texas, which is north of Austin.

Aubrey Vanlandingham was arrested on November 22. Photo / Williamson County Sheriff's Office

The FFA programme allows students interested in agriculture to compete in events related to the field, including livestock shows and science fairs, where students can win awards and scholarships. It was not clear from court documents whether Vanlandingham was upset over a specific competition involving the goat, or why she believed Willie’s owner had cheated.

Crestina Hardie, chief communications officer for the Leander Independent School District, which includes Vista Ridge, said in a December 5 statement that the school could not comment on the status of specific students but that “disciplinary action was taken consistent with policy and procedures”.

“Leander ISD is proud of its nationally recognised FFA programme and saddened to hear of the loss of one of its livestock,” Hardie said.

Approved students in Vista Ridge’s FFA programme can access its barn to check on animals after normal operating hours, according to Hardie. The barn was equipped with at least one surveillance camera, which authorities used to review footage from the day of the incident.

On the morning of October 23, Vanlandingham allegedly went into the barn, grabbed “supplies” and walked to the goat pens, according to a probable cause affidavit.

She then walked into Willie’s pen, straddled the goat and forced a “syringe-like item” into his mouth, the document states. Vanlandingham allegedly used the syringe on the goat two more times before leaving the pen.

The same day, she returned to the barn around noon and 2pm to check on Willie, according to the affidavit.

During the third instance, Vanlandingham appeared to make a phone call in the security footage, the affidavit states. The mother of the student who owned Willie later told authorities that Vanlandingham called her to tell her Willie was “acting funny and was shaking or convulsing and not acting right”, according to the affidavit.

Immediately after the call, the mother went to the barn to check on Willie and take him to the veterinarian. Vanlandingham was no longer at the barn when she got there, the affidavit says. Willie was given medicine, but the veterinarian, despite running tests, could not determine what had caused the goat’s rapid decline.

About 21 hours after Vanlandingham allegedly injected the pesticide, Willie was dead.

A pathologist who performed a necropsy on Willie at the family’s request said when he cut open the goat’s stomach, the ”smell of pesticide permeated the room”, according to the affidavit. In November, a toxicity report ruled Willie had died from organophosphate intoxication.

That same month, officials obtained a warrant to look through Vanlandingham’s phone, according to the affidavit. Authorities said they found a search history that included queries like: “If goats inject bleach do they die”, “Poisoning pets, what you should know” and “How to clear search history”, the affidavit says.

Vanlandingham was arrested on November 22. She posted a US$5000 ($8930) bond, with conditions including having no contact with the family who owned Willie, no animals in her care or custody, and no contact with her dog, cat and rabbit without adult supervision, court records show.

During her October 29 interview with a police detective, Vanlandingham at first denied giving Willie the pesticide before admitting she had done so using a bottle of pesticide from the barn’s storage closet and a drench gun — often used to feed medication to livestock — from another student’s storage box, according to the affidavit. This was the second time she had attempted to poison the goat since another attempt three days before failed, she added, according to the document.

She allegedly told the detective she had injected the pesticide because the student who owned Willie was “a cheater” and she “doesn’t like cheaters”, the affidavit states.

If convicted of cruelty to livestock animals, Vanlandingham faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to US$10,000.