4 charged in dumping of dead longhorn outside Oklahoma State fraternity days before championship game with Texas

Four students were arrested in connection with the dead longhorn found outside an Oklahoma State University fraternity in December.

Luke Ackerley, Bennet Fady, Andrew King and Brody Shelby have been charged with misdemeanor for unlawful disposal of a carcass.

The dead longhorn was found on the lawn of FarmHouse fraternity on the morning of Dec. 1, the day before the Big 12 championship football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the University of Texas Longhorns. The animal was branded with obscenities referring to the fraternity.

The four men were all members of Alpha Gamma Rho at Oklahoma State, a rival fraternity that Stillwater police were investigating after rumors of an “ongoing prank war” between the two houses surfaced, according to NBC affiliate KFOR of Oklahoma City.

The initial necropsy findings revealed the longhorn died after “suffering from a natural disease process” before being dumped on the lawn. An officer on scene told KFOR that tire tracks across the lawn indicated a truck or a trailer was used to transport the animal to FarmHouse.

All four students have been released on their own recognizance and will appear in court on March 11.

Katherine Itoh

Katherine Itoh is a news associate for NBC News.