Texas cheerleader charged with poisoning another student’s goat

A Texas teenager, Aubrey Vanlandingham, has been charged with animal cruelty after allegedly poisoning another student’s show goat at Vista Ridge High School’s barn facility in Cedar Park, Texas, about 20 miles north of Austin.

Police say the 17-year-old was caught on security footage using a drench gun—a tool typically used to administer medicine to livestock—to give a toxic pesticide to the goat, named Willie. Prosecutors allege Vanlandingham “intentionally and knowingly tortured a livestock animal.”

Willie reportedly died within a day of being poisoned, suffering symptoms such as convulsions and respiratory distress. According to an arrest affidavit, Vanlandingham confessed to the crime, admitting it was her second attempt to poison the goat. She claimed her actions were motivated by a belief that the goat’s owner’s daughter was a “cheater.”

Investigators also revealed that before the incident, Vanlandingham searched online for lethal poisons for animals and how to erase her search history. Vanlandingham was arrested and later released on a $5,000 bond. Efforts to contact her legal representation have not yet been successful.