By Jeff Lehr

jlehr@joplinglobe.com

PINEVILLE, Mo. — A report of a livestock trailer being hauled on U.S. Highway 71 in McDonald County with the leg of a cow sticking through the floor and dragging along the pavement resulted in the arrest of two men and a woman from Arkansas.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said a motorist reported seeing the leg of a cow dragging beneath a trailer hooked up to a northbound pickup truck near Goodman at 8:35 a.m. Tuesday.

State troopers stopped the 1986 Ford pickup and trailer a short time later at the interchange with Route B. The trailer contained 11 cattle, and one of the animal’s legs was sticking through a hole in the floor, the patrol said.

Improper registration for both the truck and the trailer, and inconsistencies in the accounts of the truck’s three occupants led to further investigation by the troopers. The patrol said it determined that the trailer and cattle had been stolen in southern McDonald County.

Because of injuries, four of the cattle had to be destroyed at a veterinarian’s office, the patrol said.

Charged with theft of a trailer, theft of livestock and animal abuse were the driver, Holder P. Crow, 44, of Garfield, Ark., and two passengers, Ricky K. Obenshain, 34, of Hindsville, Ark., and Stephanie J. Weston, 36, of Pea Ridge, Ark.

The three remained in custody Wednesday night at the McDonald County Jail in Pineville with bonds set at $100,000 each.