Yale teen admits shooting and killing 10 livestock animals in Payne County

STILLWATER — A Yale teenager has admitted shooting and killing 10 livestock animals between April 11 and April 14 of 2025 in Payne County, as well as conspiring with an unnamed juvenile to commit the crime of animal cruelty, court records show.

   Caden Levi Rudd, 19, who previously lived in Terlton, had been free on $50,000 bond until he entered a guilty plea to an 11-count Payne County felony charge on June 16 when he was jailed pending being transported to the Regimented Inmate Discipline (RID) prison boot camp program.

   As part of a plea agreement with the prosecution, Rudd will not be sentenced by Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling until after he completes RID, court records show.

   The shootings of three goats, five cows and two calves had been reported to the Payne County Sheriff’s Office in April of 2025, according to an affidavit by Sheriff’s Investigator Brandon Myers.

   When the juvenile was interviewed on April 14, 2025, at his residence with his parents present, he admitted to shooting a goat in rural Yale two days earlier by using a .22 rifle with a camo stock belonging to Rudd’s relative, the investigator alleged in his affidavit.

   The juvenile said, “Caden drove the truck and encouraged him to shoot, stopping the vehicle for the act. He initially denied shooting any cows but later admitted to lying,” the affidavit alleged.

   “On April 15, 2025, the juvenile provided a written statement admitting he and Caden shot a red cow, and Caden shot three cows (one white, two black) and attempted to shoot another near Quay. He also admitted to shooting two turkeys.

   “On April 15, 2025, (a witness) reported to Deputy Bloomer that she saw a truck drive by and heard gunshots in the area of Battle Ridge and McElroy on Thursday, 4/10/2025. (She) noticed dead cattle the next day in the area of Mt. Vernon and Airport Road and began to see Facebook posts about the incident.

   “She thought what she was reading on Facebook and what she had seen were connected. She stated that she went back and reviewed the camera footage and was able to catch the truck on camera. She said when she slowed down the camera footage, she was able to tell a young man was hanging out the window of the truck.

   “She sent me a copy of the video and a screenshot of the vehicle. The video shows a silver or light blue truck with blacked-out wheels driving down a dirt road, with an individual propping themselves out of the window,” the investigator alleged in his affidavit.

   When the investigator went to the defendant’s residence on April 18, 2025, “Caden declined an interview without his attorney present. I told (his relative) that I was also there to search Caden’s truck and recover the firearms used in the shootings. (The relative) voluntarily turned over a New England Firearms .243 rifle and a Savage Arms .22 rifle. A search of Caden’s truck revealed multiple spent .22 casings and 12-gauge shotgun shells.

   “On April 21, 2025, I collected a Ruger 10/22 .22 caliber carbine and a Mossberg 835 12-gauge shotgun from the juvenile’s relative. On April 28, 2025, the spent casings and shotshells from the scene of the animal shootings, the spent shell casings found in Caden’s truck, and the firearms seized from Caden and the juvenile were submitted to the OSBI Forensic Laboratory in Edmond for ballistics examination.

   “On July 29, 2025, at about 8:30 am, I interviewed the juvenile over the telephone with the permission of his parents. He denied being with Caden on April 10, 2025. I inquired about the goats that had been shot at the corner of Lakeview and Fairgrounds. He told me that Caden shot them, and Caden was the only one that shot them.

   “I asked him about the turkey that was killed. He said that they both killed a turkey that day. He said that he (the juvenile) tagged his, and Caden did not tag the one he killed. He said that the turkeys were thrown out of the truck after the beards were removed.

   “I told him that every location had his .22 casings or shotgun shells. He said that only Caden’s .22 was used. I told him that is not what the ballistics report tells us. He said that he only remembers Caden shooting his .22 at Caden’s house. I told him there were eleven .22 casings from his gun at the McElroy and Battle Ridge location,” the sheriff’s investigator alleged in his affidavit.