Texas teen charged after allegedly poisoning show goat

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 12:45:20 +0000

Background: Vista Ridge High School, Cedar Park, Texas (Google Maps). Inset: Aubrey Vanlandingham (Williamson County Sheriff’s Office).

A Texas teenager was arrested after being accused of allegedly poisoning a show goat named Willie — an act that she reportedly admitted to attempting once before.

The arrest of Aubrey Vanlandingham, 17, took place on Nov. 22 following an investigation into the death of a show goat belonging to another family. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Austin American-Statesman, Vanlandingham apparently confessed to deliberately poisoning the goat by force-feeding it pesticide, an act that was caught by security cameras. She apparently told police that she “doesn’t like cheaters,” referring to the family who owned the goat and were Vanlandingham’s competitors in a local Future Farmers of America livestock show.

The affidavit cited several pieces of evidence that were apparently Vanlandingham’s undoing, including the security camera video taken on Oct. 23 that allegedly showed her leaving a storage area inside the FFA barn at Vista Ridge High School that housed the livestock and entering the goat pen containing Willie. Cameras caught Vanlandingham allegedly restraining Willie by straddling him and forcing a syringe into his mouth three times. Vanlandingham was then seen on camera leaving the barn, only to return twice and take pictures of the goat.

The same day, the daughter of the family who owned Willie the goat reported that he was acting oddly, telling her mother that he was “shaking or convulsing and not acting right.” The mother later observed Willie having convulsions and took him to the vet. Police said that the vet could not figure out what was wrong. On Oct. 24, the daughter heard Willie in the barn “bellowing in pain.” She rushed to his aid, but according to police, Willie died in her arms.

The painful death of Willie the goat came 21 hours after the time Vanlandingham was seen on camera forcing poison down his throat.

KEYE, a local CBS affiliate, reported that the affidavit included Vanlandingham’s search history, which alleged that she was searching for ways to poison animals, possibly with bleach. She also allegedly searched “How to clear search history.”

While the police had the full cooperation of the Leander Independent School District — which provided a statement to the Austin American-Statesman that said “disciplinary action was taken consistent with policy and procedures” against Vanlandingham — it was reportedly the suspect herself who provided the most.

According to the affidavit, Vanlandingham not only confessed to the Oct. 23 poisoning, she admitted that she had tried to kill the goat once before on Oct. 20. She also accused the daughter of the family who owned Willie of being a “cheater,” and told police that she “doesn’t like cheaters.”

A necropsy was ordered on Willie the goat on Nov. 6, and it revealed that the contents of his stomach contained phosmet, a commonly used agricultural pesticide.

Vanlandingham was charged with felony cruelty to livestock animals and booked at the Williamson County Jail. She was released on $5,000 bond and is set to appear in court again on Jan. 15.

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Child feared mom would kill her after poisoning charge: Docs

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 22:17:10 +0000

Yue Yu faces charges after allegedly poisoning her husband’s tea with a “Drano-like” liquid, prosecutors said. (Mug shot from Irvine Police Department; screenshot of her in the kitchen courtesy of Steven G. Hittelman of the Hittelman Family Law Group)

The daughter of a California dermatologist facing charges for allegedly poisoning her husband’s tea with a “Drano-like” liquid told a school counselor she feared her mom would kill her if she didn’t lie about it in court, court documents say.

Dr. Yue “Emily” Yu’s 11-year-old daughter, appearing to be distressed and tearful, told her school counselor in a private session last November that she feared if she didn’t lie about what happened, she would make her mom angry, the therapist wrote in court documents.

When the therapist asked why, the girl said, “Because what if she does what she did to my dad to me?”

The counselor then asked, “Are you afraid that your mom would kill you?”

“Yes,” the girl replied, according to court documents.

The allegations surfaced as Yu and her husband, Dr. Jack Chen, are in the middle of a divorce and custody battle.

Yu’s lawyer, David Dworakowski, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime. But in court documents, he and his co-counsel said Yu “categorically denies having any violative communications with the children, much less coaching them about facts related to her defense in the criminal matter.”

“Over the past year of Mother’s parenting time, there has not been a scintilla of evidence that Mother, or Grandmother, attempted improper communications with the children,” the document said. “Nothing extraordinary has been seen by the monitors. Additionally, the evidence is that the children enjoy the parenting time spent with Mother, and it is evident that a bond exists between the children and Mother.”

As Law&Crime previously reported, Chen alleged his wife tried to kill him by poisoning his hot lemonade with drain cleaner after he started noticing a chemical taste in the drink in March and April 2022.

His suspicions were raised after he was diagnosed with two stomach ulcers, gastritis, and inflammation of his esophagus. He put up a nanny cam in the kitchen, which caught her three times taking the drain cleaner from under the sink and pouring it into his drink, court documents said.

Yu was arrested after Chen reported the incidents to the Irvine Police Department on Aug. 4, 2022. She faces three felony counts of poisoning and one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury, prosecutors said. Yu was released from jail after posting a $30,000 bond and faces a hearing in the criminal case in May.

Chen alleged years of verbal and physical abuse by Yu and her mother — the children’s grandmother — on their children and him, court documents said.

In court documents, the school therapist wrote that when the daughter came in to see her she described her mother using her phone to type lines for her. In one alleged instance about the drain cleaner used in the house, the daughter “acted out herself and her mom by changing voices,” the documents said.

The daughter said Yu would ask her, “and why did we have Drain-O in the house in the summer?”

“Because we had ants and dad wouldn’t buy ant traps,” the daughter was expected to say, court documents said.

Later, the therapist wrote, the daughter said her mother grabbed her by the arm and it hurt. She reported feeling scared to make her mom angry and didn’t know what to do about being asked to lie.

The daughter said when she lived at home with her mother, Yu would keep her up late and wake her up early to study for tests and practice piano.

She also reported her mother would sometimes unscrew the leg of a baby chair that mom would use to “beat” her, court documents said.

Her maternal grandmother told her and her younger brother to come over so she could hit them with the chair leg, documents said.

“If they ran grandma would chase them and beat them,” the documents said.

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Texas teen charged after allegedly poisoning show goat

Child feared mom would kill her after poisoning charge: Docs