HOBART, Wash. — It's been about 10 weeks since a man shot an innocent horse in the head in Pierce County in a twisted act of sacrifice, according to police. That suspect is now in jail, but a strangely similar horse killing was discovered Monday morning near Maple Valley in unincorporated King County.
The horse killing was discovered after King County resident Stevie Jacobson had finished feeding her horses around 6 p.m. Sunday, she said.
"Everybody was fine, hunky dory," she said. At that point, she left the pasture.
But on Monday morning, she found her horse of 15 years, Buttercup, shot dead on her pasture. The bullet had gone into her skull, likely killing her instantly.
"It was right between her eyes and a little bit up," said Jacobson.
She said it appears Buttercup was shot from far away because after assessing the pasture, she didn't see any disturbances in the dirt.
"Nobody was in the pasture," said Jacobson. "We've kind of looked around. They had to have done it from up at the road."
She added, "Yeah, so this person is like a fabulous shot... If they just started randomly shooting, the horses would have all been running. They would have never gotten a good shot, they might have wounded them. But there wasn't another single mark on anybody or on her. Just that one. Just so odd."
She has no idea what the killer's motive could be.
"Why?" she said. "Somebody's just purely evil... is the only thing I can think of. Why would you do something like this?'"
King County Sheriff's Department told KING 5 Tuesday that this is a question they're working to answer.
Meanwhile, she is not the only one feeling the loss of a loved one. Another miniature horse on her pasture, Peanut, is blind in one eye and, therefore, often depends on Buttercup.
Jacobson said the two were "pair-bonded."
"She would just kind of follow Buttercup around and be like, 'Okay, where are you going? I better go there,'" said Jacobson.
A public information officer for the King County Sheriff's Department said he believes this and the other recent horse killing aren't related.
No suspects have been identified in Buttercup's case.