A Las Vegas-area veterinarian who disappeared after he was allegedly seen kicking a horse in video that went viral online has been found dead, officials said.
The body of Dr. Shawn Frehner was discovered near the Boulder Islands at Lake Mead on Friday, the Clark County coroner’s office confirmed Monday. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the remains were identified using dental records.
No further details were provided and the cause of death was not clear.
Frehner was reported missing on April 6, kicking off a weeks long multi-agency search that included local authorities as well as the Nevada Department of Wildlife, national park officials, and volunteers from Las Vegas-based Red Rock Search and Rescue.
His family grew concerned when they had not heard from, and his wallet, keys and a cellphone were later found inside his unoccupied truck, abandoned at the Hemenway Harbor at Lake Mead at the time, according to a missing persons report released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Frehner’s disappearance came shortly after he appeared in a viral clip shared online earlier this month. He can apparently be seen kicking a horse in the head on property belonging to Shawna Gonzalez. She told 8NewsNow Frehner was supposed to administer anesthetic shots to some horses on April 3, adding that she’d used his services since the year before.
“I heard [my mother] yell, ‘Oh my God. He just kicked him,’” Gonzalez recalled.
“Oh my God, Mom, he’s choking,” she added. “He wrapped the horse around his neck three times, and he kicked him in the head.”
Gonzalez said the horse was treated for abrasions to the skull and other injuries, and a criminal investigation was launched.
Frehner denied being aggressive with the animal, claiming instead that he was attempting “to get the horse in a better position so that he could breathe and get up and move so I could again try to anesthetize.”
