Authorities are investigating the mutilation and death of a cow on a remote ranch in Oregon. The ranch is more than a 45-minute drive from the nearest paved road.
Ranch owners Clancy and Stephen Roth are stumped by what happened to their animal.
The range cow, a breeding animal worth around $850, was found dead and mutilated. Her udder, tongue, and heart were cut out, all being done without a drop of blood being spilled.
Local Sheriff’s Office Deputy Tom Roark launched the investigation in 2019, but there are still no leads.
“It’s creepy, gives me chills,” rancher Clancy Roth told Blue Mountain Eagle News. “There’s no evidence of who did it or how they killed her. It’s so sad.”
Maybe the most frightening part about the incident is it is not the first time the Roths have had their cattle mutilated in this way. Around 20 years ago, Roth said, her father-in-law and husband, Stephen, found multiple cattle left in the same condition with the same body parts removed.
This is not unique to the Roths however. In August of 2019, a similar incident happened with five bulls in Eastern Oregon.
Mutilations like this date back to the 1970s, according to FBI records.
Deputy Roark arrived at the scene past the 24-hour window in which a necropsy could be performed on the body of the cow.
The Blue Mountain Eagle reports there was no bullet, no strangulation marks, no recent lighting storms, no tire tracks or shoe prints, and most alarmingly, no blood.
“The blood was gone,” Roth said. “It looked like someone snipped her artery and drained her.”
Roark ruled out scavenger animals doing this. In most cases, not much left is left of the carcass, just bones and hide.
The Roths believe the cow was poisoned using a poisonous dart after finding a tiny scrap of fiber resembling a feather tip.
Deputy Roark said he believes a cult is using the body parts for rituals.
To add to the eeriness, the cow’s ear tag was 1313.
“I’ve seen too many crime scenes,” said Roark. “But this one’s got no evidence. Nothing. It’s really bizarre.”