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Enumclaw family pleads for horse's return after theft
Suspected thieves were caught on video with a truck and a trailer, taking an Enumclaw family's horse from their barn.
ENUMCLAW, Wash. - A family in Enumclaw is making a plea to the community to help find their stolen horse.
The suspected thieves were caught on video with a truck and trailer, taking the horse at around 1:50 a.m. on Thursday.
At the Hodge family barn, chickens, dogs and horses are all part of the family.
"Most of them love people," said Theresa Hodge, the animal's caretaker.
She's pictured below with a different horse named "Pickles."
At around 1:50 Thursday morning, Theresa Hodge says the animals in the barn, like Pickles, were the only ones to witness the crime, during which one of their own was stolen.
"How could somebody do something like this?" asked Theresa.
Theresa says security cameras in the barn captured what looked like two thieves whisking Ruben the quarter horse away.
He is pictured in a flier below.
"Some horses like people, some people don’t. He loved people," said Theresa Hodge.
Theresa's son-in-law Dan was the first to realize that he was missing when he found the door open and an empty stall.
"Whoever came in, knew exactly where to go to get Ruben and exactly where to get out of here," said Jack Hodge, Ruben’s caretaker and barn owner.
Based on prints left in the wet grass, Jack Hodges believes the thieves walked the 15-year-old horse out of a gate off SE 392nd Street at the other side of the family's property, and then led it to a truck and trailer that was parked down the road.
"The footprints were around the edge of this round corral and out this gate," said Jack.
Neighbor's cameras captured what looked like a red truck that was parked down the road, pulling a trailer away at around 2 a.m., avoiding the farm's 14 cameras placed around the property.
There were other horses on the property and the family thinks that Rueben was targeted specifically, though it's unclear why.
Ruben's absence is an emotional loss for many reasons. Jack and Theresa's daughter, Stephanie, who did ranch riding, doted on him. She is pictured with the horse below.
"She loved horses, and wouldn’t be without them," said Theresa.
"This would have mortified her to lose a horse that way," said Jack.
She cared for Ruben until she fell ill with cancer and passed away last year. Her picture now hangs in the barn. At her celebration of life, her mom says there was a list displayed of all the horses she loved.
"Ruben is one of the horses," said Theresa.
"She really loved Ruben and if she had been alive, she’d been going absolutely crazy about now until this horse came back," said Jack.
Ruben had an injury when he was taken and needs medicine and special feed. It's unclear why the thieves wanted him, but the Hodge family just want their late daughter's beloved horse home.
"All we can do is appeal to whoever took him to just bring him back, no questions asked, drop him off," said Jack.
If you think you know who took Ruben, contact the King County Sheriff’s Office.
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The Source: Information in this story came from original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.