A Michigan mother who says her estranged daughter stole her horse after she divorced the girl’s stepfather because she didn’t agree to pay for her daughter to go to college in Florida, has filed a lawsuit alleging the horse has been lost in Marion County since 2020.
Heather Williams filed the lawsuit against her daughter, Aurora Putman, in the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court of Marion County on June 17.
According to the complaint, Williams was a resident of St. Clair County in Michigan in 2020. The lawsuit claims Putman was a resident of Citrus County.
In July of 2020, Williams owned a farm located in Cottrelleville, Michigan, where she kept “a number of horses, including a warmblood named ‘Undaunted.'”
Undaunted is described as a “15-year-old dark bay gelding, a draft cross, who was bred and raised” by Williams. The lawsuit claims Putman was “a child” when Undaunted was born and that, over the years, her “mother allowed her to ride it from time to time.”
“All of [Undaunted’s] care, feed, vet bills, farrier bills were paid for by Williams,” reads the complaint.
Williams claims that during the summer of 2020, she and her daughter were “estranged because Williams would not pay for her daughter’s costs to go to Florida instead of going to college in Michigan.”
Around the same time, Williams claims she was “going through a divorce with her then husband, Forrest Putman.” The complaint notes that her daughter is “not related” to Mr. Putman, “except by marriage.”
During the divorce proceedings, Williams claims that Putman and her stepfather “spoke often of plans to take Undaunted” from her possession.
Williams claims she and Mr. Putman reached an “amicable settlement” during their divorce sometime in July 2020. That settlement allegedly awarded Williams sole possession of “all horses in her possession and related equipment.”
On July 30, 2020, Williams claims she made a trip to a nearby town with her “current husband” to a “pre-arranged custody exchange” with Mr. Putman for a toddler that they had together.
Upon Williams return to her home, she claims she “immediately noticed that Undaunted was gone, and another horse was loose.” She claims she contacted the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office to report the stolen horse and that she later noticed that a “saddle and horse tack” had also been stolen.
According to the complaint, Putman admitted to a sheriff’s deputy that she “had taken the horse and the tack.” The complaint alleges Putman claimed “she had been given the horse as a child by her mother, even though Williams had paid for all of its feed, care, and shoeing, and was listed as the owner of record as recently as April of 2020.”
The complaint alleges that Putman was “charged with larceny and burglary for the theft of the horse and horse equipment.” St. Clair County court records show that those charges were dropped.
Williams alleges that Putman transported Undaunted into Marion County in August or September of 2020, saying she drove the horse “across state lines without proper documentation or health papers” during that season because she was “working in Marion County for the winter equestrian circuit.”
The complaint cites several Facebook posts showing the horse in Marion County during the specified time period.
In March of this year, Williams filed a complaint for replevin and an emergency order was entered by a local judge. A writ for replevin was issued shortly thereafter.
On April 11, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy interviewed Putman and she “admitted that she had taken Undaunted from her mother’s property and transported him to Florida.” At the time, she also allegedly said “she had leased the horse to someone in Ohio.”
To date, the complaint states that Williams has been “unsuccessful in locating Undaunted.”
Williams is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
Marion County court records show that Putman filed a motion to dismiss the writ of replevin earlier this year. That motion was denied by a judge.