Inside a narrow stable at Shadow Brook Farm in Libertyville, veterinarian Heather Jans snapped a fresh carrot and fed it to her thoroughbred, Obsidian.
Like many people, she wondered Thursday just what happened to candy heiress Helen Vorhees Brach when she disappeared on a February day 17 years ago.
But like most in the stables and show rings circling the Chicago area, her questions and anger also centered on the people accused of brutally killing horses in a suspected insurance-fraud scheme linked to Brach’s murder.
Her assessment of those people was swift and unforgiving.
“I want to shoot them myself,” she said. “It’s hard for me to comprehend how somebody could be that cruel to any living being. These animals, they become like family members. They trust you.”
Twenty-three people in the equestrian industry were indicted Wednesday in connection with two horse-fraud schemes that investigators said they discovered while trying to find out what happened to Brach.
In one scheme, ill or lame horses were sold at inflated prices to widows or di-vorced women like Brach. She was killed when she discovered the con, according to prosecutors. In the other suspected scheme, 19 people were accused of having killed 15 horses-some were electrocuted, one had a leg smashed with a crowbar-to collect insurance money.
The suspected scams hit legitimate horse enthusiasts particularly hard because people who are well-known in such circles were charged. In addition, the equestrian industry was tainted.
Throughout the horse business, people were well aware of an investigation into suspected shadowy dealings, so the indictments came as a relief to some.
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“They’ve been questioning people for a couple years, but I think everybody in the horse business was thinking this is never going to happen,” said Moppy Towne, who owns Shadow Brook Farm.
Even without formal charges, she said, “you just knew the people to stay away from.”
As her daughter hosed down a quarter horse named Thatcher, Towne said there were some raised eyebrows after the 1989 death of a horse named Emili’s Choice. People were heard to say it didn’t matter much because “it was insured,” Towne said.
Emili’s Choice was among the horses killed in the scheme, according to federal prosecutors, who announced the indictment of a Mundelein couple, Michael and Donna Hunter, in connection with the death.
Still, if there wasn’t always surprise, there was anger. One trainer who declined to be named said he hopes people guilty of horse killing for profit “get fried” for their actions and sullying the sport’s reputation.
“Every one of these people has more money than God,” he said. “They have no love for the sport.”
Stephen Haight, a co-owner of Horse Forum, a riding school and stable in Lake Forest, stared out the window of his office, where photos and pictures of horses are scattered about like family mementos.
“For somebody just to blindly kill an innocent horse is revolting,” he said. “They’re just innocent creatures, and they’re very kind animals. They respond to affection. They respond to discipline, and they are totally dependent on us for their welfare.”
The sordid schemes laid out by prosecutors at a crowded Chicago news conference seemed worlds away from the prestigious Equifest Horse Show, which opened Wednesday near west suburban Wayne.
There, the dozens of horses waiting to compete Thursday were as elegantly turned out as the marigold beds surrounding the Lamplight Equestrian Center. The event, which runs for 12 days, attracts more than 300 competitors from all over the country.
“It’s horrendous,” said Susan McCarthy of Clayton, Mich., who has owned and trained horses for nearly 40 years. “People deserve better, the horses deserve better, and the business deserves better than this.”
Their views, some acknowledged, may be more strongly felt because of the circles they move in. Would horse killing have attracted as much attention, they wondered, if it hadn’t been linked to a prominent murder case or the suspected bilking of thousands of dollars?
“I think (the alleged killers) are getting punished for the insurance, but I don’t know if they’re getting punished for killing the animals,” said Brewster Moore, a rider from Mundelein. “The most important thing should be the animals.”