Shawn Frehner, the Nevada veterinarian found dead in April after a viral video appeared to show him abusing a horse, likely committed suicide, officials said on Wednesday.
The Office of the Clark County Coroner and Medical Examiner determined that Frehner died by drowning, according to KTNV-TV in Las Vegas.
He also had Pentobarbital in his system, a sedative used for euthanizing animals.
Frehner went viral in early April after a video showed him appearing to kick a horse in the face.
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
Following a stampede of online criticism and anger, Frehner took to social media to make a statement, which he later deleted.
“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. “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.
Days after the incident, and faced with animal abuse charges, Frehner disappeared.
Shortly after that, investigators discovered his abandoned truck — along with his wallet, cell phone, and keys — parked on the Nevada side of Lake Mead.
Frehner’s father said it was strange that his son parked the truck there, considering he didn’t own a boat, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.
He grew increasingly concerned for the safety of his son, who had received death threats.
On April 18, the park service discovered Frehner’s body near the Boulder Islands, inside the lake’s recreation area.
“It’s horrible, I never, ever wished this upon him, I never wished this upon anybody,” Shawna Gonzalez, the woman who owned the horse Frehner kicked, said of the incident. “This is not what I wanted in the end at all.”
The kicking incident wasn’t Frehner’s first.
Another video showed him appearing to abuse another horse.
After a normal procedure of flushing the animal’s nose with a syringe, Frehner then appeared to smack the horse in the face before walking off.
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