Texas cheerleader charged with poisoning, killing FFA competitor's goat in act of 'jealousy'

A Texas teenage cheerleader was arrested on Nov. 22 and charged with cruelty to livestock animals, a jail felony in Texas. Aubrey Vanlandingham was out of detention the same day on $5,000 bail.

Vanlandingham allegedly used pesticide to poison a show goat owned by a competitor that she harbored “jealousy” towards in a Future Farmers of America (FFA) livestock competition. She reportedly admitted to killing the goat, named Willy, on Oct. 23, according to the Daily Mail. Vanlandingham was also recently made the FFA chapter president at her school.

Conviction could land Vanlandingham a maximum of two years in jail. As part of her bail conditions, she has been told not to stay away from her high school until the case is resolved. Her first court appearance is Jan. 15.

Police found security footage of a female student at the Vista Ridge High School’s barn forcing pesticide down the goat’s throat by using a drench gun (a tool to administer liquid medication to animals). The six-month-old goat struggled to survive by running away but was cornered and made to ingest the pesticide. Vanlandingham allegedly fled the scene but came back to observe the progress of the poison. Willy was dead within a day, convulsing in his owner’s arms.

Vanlandingham allegedly tried to justify her act by saying the daughter of the goat’s owner was “a cheater.”

Vanlandingham had enjoyed considerable success in schools’ agricultural programs and entered her own goat, Lacey, in competitive events. But the mother of the girl’s 15-year-old rival believes the cheerleader was motivated by jealousy.

“She’s saying it’s because of cheating. But from what we’ve deciphered, she was just really jealous,” the mother told the Daily Mail. “You can’t even cheat when it comes to showing goats,” she added. “It makes no sense, so that’s where the jealousy really kind of falls into place.”

The mother told the outlet, “She admitted to poisoning him multiple times over several days. So it’s a pretty rough situation. We don’t believe there is any remorse there, we hope that she has to serve jail time and she gets some kind of mental help.”

"It’s all bizarre. We want justice served, we don’t want a slap on the wrist. We want to make sure that she is punished. At this point, we don’t feel like she thinks she’s going to be punished and she needs to be. She needs to take ownership for what she’s done,” the mother added.

Police discovered that Vanlandingham had been searching for ways to poison pets on her smartphone. A post-mortem of the goat revealed that it had died of phosmet, a common pesticide used by farmers.