$1K reward being offered for answers in goat beheading investigation

EVENING SHADE, Ark. (KAIT) - A Sharp County farmer is offering a reward after deputies said he found one of his goats “beheaded.”

On Sunday, April 28, farmer John Kunkel went to check on his cattle on his farm near Evening Shade.

“Around 6 o’clock that evening, I had gone into the field to check cattle cause my neighbors had a couple of deer that had been lightning struck the day before and thought I should check the cows,” Kunkel said.

And that’s when he made a shocking discovery.

“What I found was a goat that was beheaded to the point that it was a precision cut. The head was removed. The blood was removed,” Kunkel said. “All that remained was the body.”

This was something Kunkel never expected.

“Was kind of a shocking moment. Never in our life have we had anything like that happen on the farm from any type of predator,” Kunkel said.

State agencies, as well as the Sharp County Sheriff’s Office, are investigating the animal’s death.

The consensus: this was not caused by anything other than a human.

Now Kunkel wants to know who did it and why.

“Why would someone be doing this type of inhumane type torture to an animal?” Kunkel asked. “That could also lead to more concerns for livestock, other cattle.”

He hopes a reward will help to track down the killer.

“I’m offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who brings information forward that leads to the arrest of the perpetrator,” Kunkel said.

Anyone with information on this investigation should call the Sharp County Sheriff’s Office at 870-994-7356.

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