Shawn Neu and his wife, Christy, are now offering a $4,250 reward, hoping to secure an arrest in the killing of one of their bison.

The reward is sponsored by SR Bison Ranch, Texas Bison Association, Gail Ahnert — a National Bison Association Member and Liberty Highlands Cattle Company.

"We're going to find out who did it. And, you know, justice needs to be served on this," Neu said. "Taking a member of our family, one of my wife's babies."

Neu said he could see beer cans near the County 301 Road portion of his property in Cooke County on the Monday before Thanksgiving. The previous night, the couple heard their dogs barking, but had no idea what it was connected to until they went to clean the fence line.

When the couple made their cleaning rounds, they made a gruesome discovery.

"We saw Louisiana lying there and no head at all," he said. "My wife, you know, was hysterical at that point."

Louisiana is the bison cow he bought in Jonesboro, Louisiana, seven months prior. Her carcass, he said, was decomposing after a one-shot kill, and she was headless. They called the Cooked County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Ray Sappington said the animal cruelty/livestock crime occurred between November 23 and November 26. But tracking a suspect has been formidable.

"What kind of makes this challenging was that it rained Sunday night going into Monday morning," Sappington said. "So, any evidence that might have been there had been washed away. So, we didn't see blood. We didn't see drag marks. We didn't see hair from going over the fence or through the fence."

According to Sappington, there is no surveillance video. His deputies have been running down leads, but nothing has evolved into a suspect or arrest. The sheriff said this is the first time his office has investigated a crime like this since he was elected 5 years ago.

It's a scene where he believes there was more than one person involved because of the weight of the bison's head.

"That would be a pretty big challenge, to kill the animal and then get a head of that size and that weight across the pasture, through a fence, and into your vehicle by yourself," Sappington said.

Neu said they have enhanced security on his property because this was a personal matter.

"I do take this personally. I take it personally that somebody would want to come out and, you know, violate one of our animals like this, trespass on our property, and just. It's just really disrespectful," Neu said.

Sappington said anyone with information about the case can call 940-665-3471, or send an anonymous tip to tips@co.cooke.tx.us.