Stolen Mississippi horses reunited with owners

CLARKSDALE, MS - June 20, 2004 - Clarksdale resident Sassy Mauldin reunites with her horse, Boogie, on June 12 after the horse's theft from a local pasture in May. Celebrating the moment with Mauldin is Baldwyn Police Chief Troy Agnew, who located the horse.

Recently both horses reunited with their families in teary, but tender, homecomings made possible by a little luck and a lot of determination.

Ace, a 5-year-old black Tennessee walking horse, and Boogie, a 2-year-old red sorrel horse, went missing from their Clarksdale pasture May 16.

On June 12, Boogie was found. Five days later, Ace followed suit.

"This has been the most amazing week of my life," said Boogie's owner, Sassy Mauldin. "We were hugging and crying and rejoicing for her return. It was just so emotional."

Mauldin and Ace's owner, Kenneth Hood, had searched the state for their kidnapped pets without any luck. But their big break came June 5 whenLyon police officer Lee Clayton interrupted the area's second horse theft of the season.

Clayton caught one of the suspects, - a 24-year-old Pontotoc man - and authorities are still searching for his accomplice, a twice-convicted horse thief.

Believing the two thefts could be related, investigators told Mauldin and Hood to narrow their search to northeast Mississippi, where both suspects lived.

That tip proved successful, because one week later, Boogie was found in aPrentissCounty pasture, just 40 miles north of Pontotoc.

"I visited a vet in Baldwyn, who encouraged me to see the chief of police," Mauldin said. "He was a horse man and could understand our pain and wanted to help us get them back.

"Within 24 hours, that department called me and said, 'We think we've got your horse.'"
Baldwyn Police Chief Troy Agnew said he went looking for Boogie immediately after Mauldin left and found him in a hidden pasture just outside town.

"I got four Tennessee walking horses, and I wanted to help her get her baby back," Agnew said. "I know how she must have felt."

Mauldin and law-enforcement officials kept mum on the good news until they could locate Ace. Nobody wanted to spook the thief into running farther away, Hood said.

Hood's big break came Thursday, when he received a tip on a trailer, that was stolen from his property the same night as the horses. It had been sold at a New Albany horse sale May 21.

Once investigators confirmed that the trailer belonged to Hood, they followed the leads to Ace, who was sold in the same show to a man from Tennessee.

Asa Wilson purchased Ace for $2,000, but gladly turned him over to his owner when he learned of the theft.

"He said, 'I hope I can get my money back from the show, but if I can't, it'll be the best $2,000 I ever spent,'" Hood recalled. "He was just the nicest man I ever met. He even loaned us his trailer to bring Ace back home."

Mauldin and Hood threw a party Friday night for those who helped bring their pets back home. Sharing big honors were Coahoma County Sheriff Andrew Thompson Jr. and Deputy Investigator Tracy Vance. Along with Billy Benson, an investigator for the Mississippi Agriculture and Livestock Theft Bureau, Vance and Thompson never stopped their search for the stolen animals, Mauldin said.

Thompson credited the horses' recovery to solid teamwork and an unflinching determination to bring the animals home.

"I can't concentrate on anything anymore," Hood said Friday. "I'm just so happy my baby is back. People say you can't get attached to animals the way you can with humans. Well, an experience like this should prove them otherwise."

RESOURCE"  http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12032323&BRD=2038&PAG=461&dept_id=230617&rfi=6