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Case #6569 Rating: 3.0 out of 5
Cows shot
Eagle Point, OR (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Dec 14, 2005
County: Jackson
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Billy Fred Frye
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
Billy Fred Frye, 18, of the 400 block of Candice Drive, Eagle Point. An Oregon State Police trooper December 14, 2005 arrested Frye on four counts of first-degree theft and four counts of first-degree animal abuse. He was lodged in jail, where he remains on $40,000 bail.
Case UpdatesAn Eagle Point man faces two years on probation and will pay for the four cows he shot with an assault rifle during a camping trip last summer.
In addition, Billy James Frye, 19, who pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated animal abuse Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court, will lose his hunting license for two years and forfeit the guns he used in killing the cattle.
Frye, of the 300 block of Ortega Street, and a group of friends went camping the weekend of Aug. 27, 2005, just off Highway 140 near Lake of the Woods. Prosecutors say the nine teens, ranging in age from 15 to 19, brought alcohol and guns to the gathering.
At some point Frye, who had been drinking, shot four cows belonging to rancher Loren Walch. Two of the cows were pregnant and two had recently given birth. One of the calves died as a result of the loss of its mother, Jackson County deputy district attorney Karen Loomis said.
None of the other teens were charged in the case. The bullets found in the cows matched an SKS assault rifle belonging to Frye.
"(Frye's) the only one that had the SKS and was shooting these cows," Loomis said. "He bragged to his friends that he had shot one cow in the eye."
He will pay between $8,000 and $9,000 in restitution to help Walch recover the cost of his lost livestock. It also was recommended as part of his probation that Frye participate in animal cruelty prevention programs, Loomis said.
The district attorney's office received letters from animal rights groups asking that Frye receive the highest possible punishment, Loomis added. | Source: Mail Tribune - Sept 16, 2006
Update posted on Nov 7, 2006 - 7:55PM |
A teen faces six felony charges after a booze- and gun-fueled summer camping trip he attended ended with four bullet-riddled cows belonging to an Eagle Point rancher.
Billy James Frye, 18, of Eagle Point, pleaded not guilty on December 28, 2005, to four counts of aggravated animal abuse, felony theft and criminal mischief in connection with what Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Trooper Jeff Allison described as a "cow massacre." Police believe Frye and a group of friends went camping the weekend of August 27, 2005 just off Highway 140 near Lake of the Woods. The nine teens, ranging in age from 15 to 19, brought along alcohol, cigarettes and a small cache of weapons to keep themselves entertained, Allison said. "They showed up with an SKS assault rifle, an Ithaca 12-gauge shotgun, a .32-caliber pistol and a .22-caliber rifle," Allison said. "They belonged to a relative of one of the boys." At some point, four cows were gunned down - two were pregnant, two had recently given birth, Allison said.
Fourth-generation rancher Loren Walch found the first carcass on the morning of Aug. 30, 2005. At first, he believed it had been shot accidentally by someone taking target practice nearby. When the day ended with the discovery of three more cow carcasses, he knew he had a problem. "They had been shot from one end to the other," Walch said. The cows lay surrounded by rifle and shotgun shells. Walch noticed the rifle shells had a distinctive look. They were silver-jacketed. He tried to track the shells, but found they were stocked in many local stores. He decided to call the police.
Allison met Walch at the ranch and the men began the unpleasant business of digging bullets out of the bovine bodies in the late-August heat. "It was gross ... you had to scoop away maggots to get to bullets," Allison said. It wasn't until a month later that the big break came. Walch was walking down to the pasture to release some cows when he saw Frye emerge from a nearby cabin carrying an assault rifle. He asked Frye to pull the rifle's clip. It was packed with the same silver-jacketed bullets he found near the dead cows.
"I knew they'd come back 'cause they're stupid," Walch said.
Allison arrived soon after and began questioning Frye and his two friends. Finally, Frye admitted to killing two of the cows, Allison said. "One kid that owned the guns, but didn't do the shooting said to me, 'I didn't shoot your cows, but my guns did,'" Walch said. Because he was the only one to admit to actually killing a cow, Frye was charged with the all four cow deaths. He was arrested on Dec. 14, 2005 and spent nearly a week in the Jackson County Jail before posting bail.
Walch said he appreciated the hard work OSP troopers did on the case, though he wonders if more arrests will be made. "I heard Billy say he shot two," Walch said. "I guess (his friends) are not going to admit who shot the other cows." Walch and Allison are left shaking their heads, wondering what could have inspired the "cow massacre." "I asked them why they did it and they said they had no reason," Walch said. | Source: Mail Tribune News - December 29, 2005
Update posted on Dec 29, 2005 - 10:45PM |
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