By Jordan Achs

Laramie Boomerang

Via Wyoming News Exchange

LARAMIE — An Albany County man is facing eight felonies for allegedly shooting and killing four horses between April 13 and May 14 near national forest land in northern Albany County.

Anthony Charles Lindmier has been charged with four counts of cruelty to animals and four counts of property destruction for property valued at or above $1,000.

According to an affidavit completed by detective sergeant William Meyer with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, three of the horses were found dead “just barely” on national forest land outside the Lindmier’s property.

Another horse was found along a ridge in the national forest, “adjacent to the Lindmier’s (sic) property line, which was not divided by a fence,” Meyer said in the affidavit.

The owner of the horses told detectives the horses were healthy about a month prior, and he typically winters them on his nearby private property or on the national forest land close to Cottonwood Park Road. He also reportedly told investigators the Lindmiers were “potential suspects due to the proximity of the horses to their land” along with the fact that that the two property owners had “continued disagreements about fence lines for years.”

During the detectives’ investigations of the four dead horses, the affidavit said, three of them were found to have bullet wounds from a small caliber firearm. Additionally, near the scene was 11 spent .22 mag rifle casings and distinct ATV tire tracks on nearby creek crossings. Similar ATV tracks were noted in the driveway of a nearby cabin owned by the Lindmiers, with a Polaris side-by-side ATV parked in the driveway.

The easiest access to the area was a two-track road leading there from the Lindmiers’ property, the affidavit notes, and investigators obtained permission to cross the private property to access the scene.

On May 16, the affidavit said, a concerned citizen contacted sheriff’s office to report seeing Anthony Lindmier carrying a .22 mag rifle fitted with a scope earlier in April near the area where the horses were found dead.

The same day, the sheriff’s office received consent from Lindmier’s father to search their cabin, where law enforcement reportedly found a rifle that matched the citizen’s description. The affidavit noted the ammunition in the rifle’s tube magazine looked identical to the casings found near the horses.

Investigators interviewed Anthony Lindmier the following day, and he reportedly said he and his family had been having issues with the horses “being on their property and damaging their property.”

“After some time, Lindmier did admit to shooting the four horses in question,” Meyer’s affidavit said.

The affidavit goes on to say Lindmier told investigators three of the horses he had to shoot multiple times, often needing to move closer, before they died. One horse walked away after one shot, and Lindmier reportedly told the sheriff’s office he wasn’t sure if it had died or not.