A week after a horse was killed near its home in Canaan, Maine State Police are raising doubts that the animal was ever struck by a vehicle even though there was blood-spatter evidence where the horse’s owner said it was hit.

“The case isn’t closed,” Lt. Mark Brooks, commander of Maine State Police Troop C Barracks in Skowhegan, said Wednesday. “There is zero evidence at the scene to support that there was a vehicle involved. We’re still looking for evidence that suggests there was.”

Brooks also noted that there is no evidence that the horse, a 4-year-old Appaloosa mare, was dragged from the spot it was tethered to a cinder block outside the owner’s home on Hubbard Road to the site on Route 23 where the animal died.

Sierra Miner, 21, owner of the horse she called Lucy, said the animal was tethered at the end of her driveway and was struck by a vehicle as it drove onto Miner’s yard on Hubbard Road. She said the horse was dragged nearly a half-mile, gutting the animal and leaving a trail of blood on nearby Route 23.

“I’m devastated — I had to lose my best friend,” Miner said at the time.

There were no witnesses to the crash.

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Brooks said reports of a tan or gold pickup truck seen in the area and two other vehicles reported to police have been ruled out and were not involved in the incident.

As for the blood-spatter evidence reported by state Trooper Jill Monahan, who is investigating the horse’s death, Brooks said that question remains unanswered and police are looking into other possibilities that will require more investigative time. Monahan said there were hoof prints in the road indicating that the horse was running at one point and that there was blood spatter in Miner’s yard and along Hubbard Road to Route 23.

“We have inconsistent ideas right now on what happened … and we’re trying to make sure we get to everybody that possibly (the family) wants us to talk to and that we’ve talked to before we conclude with the case,” Brooks said.

The carcass of the horse was located on Route 23 still attached to a rope, a halter and a concrete block, the trooper said last week.

Miner, who works as a server at Ruby Tuesday’s in Waterville, said she received the horse as a gift about a year ago this summer. Miner said she had tied the horse to a cinder block at the end of her driveway while she took a shower. When she got out of the shower she found her phone was “blowing up” with calls telling her that the horse was dead on Route 23.

Hubbard Road is a dead end with about 10 seasonal camps and homes. The mile-long dirt road curves sharply just before the Miner property. Miner said the vehicle must have swerved to where Lucy was grazing and hit her from behind.

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Brooks, at the state police barracks, said there was no evidence such as motor vehicle parts or broken headlight glass at the scene to suggest that a vehicle was involved, but isn’t ruling out that scenario.

Miner on Wednesday stuck to her story of what happened at about 9:30 a.m. Sept. 14 outside her home. She said she would have no reason to lie about the incident.

“I would never lie about something like this. Who makes up something like this? It’s crazy,” Miner said. “My story will stay the same because that’s the truth.”

Miner said she doesn’t believe that her horse wandered off on its own. She said it was struck by a vehicle while it was tethered at the end of her driveway.

“I really think it was one person involved, one truck involved,” she said. “I didn’t see it. All I saw was the aftermath of all of this. I didn’t see any vehicle. I didn’t see anybody. All that I was able to see was my horse on the ground and all the mess in the middle of the road.”

Miner said money from a GoFundMe site opened for her will go toward a reward for information on who killed her horse.

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“I don’t want any body’s money. That’s not going to bring Lucy back,” she said.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow


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