It's an ending to a story that touched the Brazos Valley community.

In 2006, two local college students brutally killed a Bryan woman's prized horse.

A year and a half later, one of those students is serving jail time and the other was convicted Wednesday of the crime.

Walter Williams pleaded guilty to animal cruelty today and received 120 days in jail and five years probation. It's a lighter sentence than his accomplice received in October.

Kenneth Peterson, a Texas A&M dropout, was convicted of two felonies, including animal cruelty. He's currently serving nine months in state jail and then he'll be on probation for five years.

The sentences were not as stiff as the horse's owner Darla McCrady had hoped, but she tells News Three she's glad the entire ordeal is over.

Darla McCrady's passion has always been for her horses. However, two years ago, that passion, was almost wiped away.

"I was not going to ride any longer," McCrady said.

In October 2006, Darla found her prized horse, Chic, dead in her own backyard.

"She had two big cuts to the throat and one was pretty much cut in half," McCrady said. "You could see where blood was and where struggle was and you could see where she died."

Kenneth Peterson and Walter Williams used a polo mallet and golf club to beat the horse.
Then Williams fatally stabbed Chic in the chest with a broken golf club.

It's a nightmarish scene, that still haunts Darla.

"During the trial you hear the sounds the horse made when she was being killed, you see faces, you hear the story when she died, and that made it even worse," McCrady said.

A year and a half later though, she's recaptured her love for horses.

"I think now that we have both trials out of the way, both have pleaded guilty, been sentenced, I think it's time to move forward," McCrady said.

And even though she's moved on, she'll never forget.

It's illegal to torture any type of animal whether livestock or companion. This is a felony, punishable from six months to two years in jail.