Owner tracked it down, and an innocent child's heart was broken By JOE DEPRIEST Staff Writer Charlotte Observer News September 26, 1998 SHELBY -- It took this one-woman posse nearly 12 months, but Debi Metcalfe finally tracked down her stolen horse. The end of the trail brought pain with the joy. Metcalfe found her horse alive and well, but she had to take it away from a 10-year-old girl who thought the animal belonged to her. Metcalfe used the Internet to chase the people who whisked away the family pet, Idaho, from a pasture near her Cleveland County home. The search eventually led Metcalfe to East Tennessee, where authorities say the animal changed hands several times and wound up with a couple unaware they'd bought a stolen horse. Their daughter grew attached to the pet and won state and national awards with it at horse shows. For Metcalfe, reclaiming the horse from the little girl was hard. ``I was sad I was breaking her heart,'' says Metcalfe, 43, an insurance saleswoman and mother of two. ``I found myself comforting her. I know what it's like to lose an animal you love. I felt so sorry for them.'' Ten-year-old Anna Marie Orr named her horse Lucy after comedian Lucille Ball. Last summer, she took Lucy to horse shows all over Tennessee and Georgia and brought home several trophies. ``It was the best time of my life,'' says Anna, who lives in Etowah, Tenn. ``Lucy was the best horse anywhere. I used to tell her, `Lucy, you know I love you. I'll never give you up.' '' Anna's mom, Michele Orr, says she and her husband, Dan, bought the horse last winter from a horse trader in Meigs County, Tenn. Dan Orr says they paid $1,100 for the horse, but invested considerably more in having her trained. ``We had absolutely, positively no idea this mare was stolen,'' Michele Orr says. ``She became a member of our family. This has been heart-breaking for us and has hurt us emotionally and financially. We're still going through a grieving process.'' The Cleveland County Sheriff's Office has issued felony warrants for 42-year-old Robert Steven Shuffler of Valdese in the horse and trailer theft cases, but has made no arrest. This week, Metcalfe's 12-year-old pleasure horse is back in the same pasture where it was stolen a year ago today when Metcalfe and her husband, Harold, were away for a few hours one night. Idaho whinnies and prances and then stops to lick Metcalfe's fingers. ``Hey sweetie,'' Metcalfe says, petting the horse on the nose. ``She's enjoying being a normal horse again. She's a member of our family again.'' During the search, Metcalfe sometimes doubted she'd ever see the horse again. ``Something kept me going -- a gut feeling was always there,'' she says. ``I've never dug my heels in on anything like this before.'' Metcalfe didn't know if the animal had been sold at auction to a kindly owner or shipped to a slaughterhouse to be sold as meat in Europe or Asia. After notifying authorities, she turned to the Internet for help. She gathered e-mail addresses off horse-related Web sites and sent messages about the theft. Gradually, she built a network of folks hunting for stolen horses all over the country. They were on the lookout at weekly sales and exchanged tips on the Internet. Many false leads turned up, but Metcalfe kept searching. In July, she got word that authorities in Watauga County had arrested a man suspected of stealing two horses in Tennessee and a horse trailer in Shelby. Lt. Gary Gold with the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office checked into the report and learned the suspect in that case, Shuffler, may have taken Metcalfe's horse and sold it at auction in Cleveland, Tenn. Shuffler was released on bond after his arrest. As Gold's expanding investigation took him to Tennessee and Alabama and involved the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Metcalfe continued her search. She put things on temporary hold in August because of her mom's illness. Later that month, her mother died in Greensboro. On Labor Day weekend, Metcalfe was at it again, driving to Cleveland, Tenn., and putting up fliers about Idaho in store windows. A week later, Metcalfe says a tipster called to say she'd immediately recognized the horse from a flier because of the distinctive brown, white and black coloring on its face. The tipster had recently spotted the same horse at shows in Tennessee. It was the break Metcalfe had been looking for. She and her husband identified Idaho through a video the Orrs supplied to the McMinn County Sheriff's Office in Athens, Tenn. Next day, authorities turned over the horse to them. ``We just stood there,'' Metcalfe recalls. ``She was the most beautiful sight in the world. I had to touch her -- to make sure she was real.'' The Orrs hated letting go of their pet, but Michele Orr says ``we wanted to do what was legally and morally right.'' ``Anna will get another horse,'' she says. ``We will all survive this ordeal.'' Anna still dreams about Lucy, but says, ``I'm a little bit over it now.'' Meanwhile, Metcalfe is still hearing from folks on the Internet like Judy Bennett of Surry County who writes, ``It gave me chills to read the post on my e-mail that your horse had been found. Congratulations!'' For security, Metcalfe will brand Idaho. She'll also stay committed to helping others track down their stolen horses. ``I'll tell them to dig their heels in,'' Metcalfe says. ``And don't take them out.'' ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reach Joe DePriest at (704) 868-7745 or jdepriest@charlotte.com . |
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STOLEN HORSE INTERNATIONAL |
