A lawyer in Ocala, FL, taught a man named Tommy Burns, also known as “The Sandman,” to kill show horse Henry the Hawk for a $150,000 insurance scam.
In the early 1980s, a terrible incident occurred in Ocala, Florida, a town renowned for its horse farms.
A young man named Tommy Burns, who worked with show horses, became entangled in a scheme involving a lawyer named James Druck.
Lawyer James knew a lot about insurance; hence, he taught Burns how to kill a valuable horse named Henry the Hawk to get $150,000 from an insurance company.
It was years later that Burns revealed the story, which showed a dark side of the horse world.
Above all, Burns wasn’t always a bad guy. He was a young drifter, doing small jobs at horse shows.
It was around 1981 or 1982 that he met Druck, a well-known lawyer in Ocala who owned a horse farm and worked with insurance companies.
Reportedly, Druck was short on money due to a divorce and wanted to make some quick cash.
That’s when an idea clicked in his mind. His teenage daughter, Lisa Druck, owned Henry the Hawk, a great show horse worth $150,000.
Druck had insurance on the horse for that amount, but he could only sell it for $125,000. Hence, he decided to cheat.
The lawyer showed Burns a horrible way to kill horses, so it looked natural. He told Burns to take an extension cord, cut it to show two wires, and put metal clips on the ends.
The idea was to clip one wire to the horse’s ear and the other to its back end, then plug the cord into a wall.
The electric shock would stop the horse’s heart quickly, making it appear as though it had died from a common horse sickness known as colic.
Later, Burns revealed Druck gave him the tools and explained it clearly.
As per Druck’s instruction, Burns sneaked into the barn at Druck’s farm on a rainy night in 1982 while Lisa was away at a horse show.
He set up the cord on Henry the Hawk, just like Druck taught him. When he plugged it in, the horse fell dead right away.
As planned, the vet thought it was colic, and Druck got the $150,000 insurance money.
Similarly, Burns received a small amount of money, but more importantly, he learned how to do this awful thing.
Later, he went on to kill many more horses for other rich people.
Everything was behind the wraps until the truth came out in the early 1990s when Burns got caught hurting another horse.
When caught to avoid a long prison term, Burns decided to talk to the FBI. He then spilled the beans on Druck and others who paid him to kill horses for insurance money.
Later, his story was in a 1992 Sports Illustrated article. People were shocked to learn about the cruel act.
By the time the truth prevailed, Druck had already died from cancer. Hence, he wasn’t punished, but Burns went to jail for a year.
Later, he said he felt bad and called it a “sick” thing to do.
