A Las Vegas veterinarian who went missing in early April — shortly after a video of him brutally kicking a horse in the face surfaced online — was found dead in a lake Friday.
Dr. Shawn Frehner, 56, was recovered from Lake Mead, a reservoir spanning from Nevada to Arizona. Authorities combed the reservoir after finding his truck and multiple personal belongings near the water’s edge last week.
His identity was confirmed on Monday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Frehner originally disappeared on April 6 after he was captured physically abusing a horse he was supposed to be treating. He later apologized on Facebook after the video went viral — and defended his actions before vanishing.
“I did not blatantly haul off and kick this horse as it appears in the video,” Frehner wrote, according to News8Now. “That was not my intention at all. It was done simply 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.
“But yes I did kick him right in the chin and I very much do apologize and wish this never happened.”
Frehner was set to face felony charges for animal abuse at the time of his disappearance.
Shawna Gonzalez, whose animals Frehner had treated since August, captured the footage of the veterinarian beating her horse Big Red.
“It’s horrible, I never, ever wished this upon him, I never wished this upon anybody,” Gonzalez told 8NewsNow. “This is not what I wanted in the end at all.”
Big Red suffered extensive injuries that will likely require thousands of dollars to treat, including abrasions to his skull.
