Body of Shawn Frehner missing Las Vegas veterinarian found 13 days after video of him abusing horse went viral. Officials yet to release cause and manner of death amid speculation he was murdered or took his own life.
A Las Vegas veterinarian who vanished after video of him was posted online beating a horse was found dead in a reservoir 13 days after going missing.
The body of Shawn Frehner, 56, was recovered from Lake Mead on Friday, with officials confirming his identity on Monday, FOX5 reported.
Dr. Shawn D. Frehner, a Las Vegas vet, is under fire after a video of him kicking a horse
went viral.There is NO excuse for the abuse of any animal. Didn’t he take an oath to protect animals?
Just gross!! 🤬
There is NO excuse for #AnimalAbuse EVER!! 🚫
PS. He has since… pic.twitter.com/jdG6pL1A04
— PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE (@Protect_Wldlife) April 10, 2025
Shawn Frehner Las Vegas veterinarian insisted he hadn’t set out to harm animal
Frehner disappeared on April 6 after he was filmed abusing a horse the veterinarian had been called out to help.
No cause of death has been shared and investigators have yet to say whether they believe Frehner took his own life, met with an accident or suffered foul play. At the time of his abrupt disappearance, it was believed the vet had gone into hiding after facing the online wrath of social media users.
Frehner who had faced criticism for abusing the animal, prior to his disappearance, posted a Facebook message defending his actions while also apologizing for hurting the animal.
In his apology, Frehner reportedly stated that the video did not provide the full context.
‘I did not blatantly haul off and kick this horse as it appears in the video. That was not my intention at all,’ Frehner wrote, News8 Now reported.
‘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,’ he wrote.
Las Vegas vet filmed kicking horse in the jaw
The horse’s owner Shawna Gonzalez filmed Frehner kicking her horse Big Red on the jaw after being called out to treat the animal.
Frehner was facing felony animal abuse charges at the time of his disappearance.
Investigators honed in on Lake Mead days after Frehner’s disappearance and were seen conducting searches on the body of water after the man’s truck was found on the edge of the enormous reservoir on April 7. Inside the vehicle, Frehner’s keys, wallet, and cellphone were found.
According to the National Park Service, the missing man’s body was found near the Boulder Islands within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on April 18, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.
Speaking prior to the discovery of Frehner’s body, Gonzalez said she was distraught by news of his disappearance.
‘It’s horrible, I never, ever wished this upon him, I never wished this upon anybody’ Gonzalez said. ‘This is not what I wanted in the end at all.’
Shawn Frehner Las Vegas vet cause of death?
She explained that her daughter began recording Frehner after being concerned by how tightly he appeared to have wound a rope around her colt’s neck.
‘I heard [my mother] yell, ‘Oh my God. He just kicked him’,’ Gonzalez said.
‘He wrapped the horse around his neck three times, and he kicked him in the head.
‘I had started having a severe anxiety attack and couldn’t breathe myself.
‘I was already on the ground, and my daughter picked up the phone and hit record, and that’s when she got him on videotape, kicking him.’
The animal was left with abrasions to the skull and taken to Desert Pines Equine Center.
‘[Frehner] left my property before my horse was even up,’ Gonzalez added. ‘My horse was still down for a good 45 minutes after he left and before he left, there’s several people that were there, and even they can state that he was kind of in a rush off my property.’
Gonzalez said that she had been using Frehner’s services since last August.
She revealed that the vet bills for Red are likely to run into the thousands and requested donations to Desert Pine Rescue Center.
‘The abuse and cruelty my horse suffered on 4/3/2025 was inhumane, disgusting, appalling, and the most hurtful thing and from the hands of vet that I trusted and Red trusted,’ she wrote shortly after the incident.
Frehner’s website states he received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine-DVM degree from Ohio State University in 1997 and began his equine business the year after.
He claims he, ‘provides state-of-the-art medical care for your four-legged companions’.
‘He believes in nurturing the human-animal bond and creating a harmonious relationship between people and animals,’ according to the site.
Noted his Linkedin account, ‘I am very passionate about quality equine health and welfare. General medicine and dentistry are my 2 main areas of expertise.’
Investigators are expected to announce in the days ahead the manner and cause of death of the Las Vegas vet.
