AXTELL, Texas — On Wednesday, Jessica Millsaps posted to Facebook, saying they knew who reportedly shot and killed their Golden Retriever, Jack.
"There was a confession and we know who did it," she wrote. "We understand they have their reasoning (although they do not have proof)."
The McLennan Country Sheriff's Office later clarified this was not a confession, because the person who did it had not committed a crime.
"I would not call that a confession, I would call that part of the investigation," McLennan County Sheriff's Office Captain Steve January said.
January explained the facts of the case Wednesday afternoon on a phone call. While the Millsaps family had originally said Jack was shot in his own backyard, that's not what the sheriff's office investigation had uncovered.
"We know that the dog belonging to those folks was off the property. We know that the dog was attacking livestock, and we have spoken to the person that shot at the dog to protect his livestock," January said.
January also said the Millsaps family had wrongly accused their next door neighbors for the shooting, and those neighbors had been threatened online as a result. January said those next door neighbors had been completely exonerated by the investigation, and the person who had fired the shot lived on a different property.
"Those folks have falsely accused a neighbor and in doing so they have been receiving death threats," January said. "They were wrong about who they were accusing."
Meanwhile the individual who did fire the shot will not be arrested. January said that individual had a right to fire in this case because he was protecting his livestock. The McLennan County Sheriff's Office is sending the case to the McLennan County District Attorney to be reviewed. January said this was mainly to provide additional confirmation of their initial decision that no crime occurred.
Jessica Millsaps told 6 News in a text she disputes the claim that Jack had been on a neighbors property, but said there aren't facts to prove exactly what property the dog was on at the time.
Last week, the family had sent local media the surveillance video they had saved while on a camping trip over Mother's Day weekend. On that video, a sound like a gunshot is heard on the camera and 26 seconds later Jack can be seen staggering into the yard and collapsing.
"We rolled the camera back we heard the gunshot loud and clear. We saw him fall down and he didn’t get back up." Millsaps said in the email.
Millsaps had previously told 6 News how she called her mother to check on Jack, who confirmed their dog had died.
"Nothing will bring Jack back. We really wanted justice and to make an example out of this person and that might not happen but we are happy to have answers. It does give us a little bit of closure, although an apology to my children would be nice also," she wrote on Facebook Wednesday.
January told 6 News he is sorry the family lost their Jack this way, but he believes his investigators did an excellent job getting to the facts in this case.
"I'm sorry it turned out this way but that's what we found out in our investigation. Our investigators in the case did an outstanding job tracking down witnesses. Multiple witnesses."
Millsaps also released the surveillance video, which you can watch below: