Cattle rustling has always been a capital offense in the American West, worthy of the strongest condemnation. Trailer rustling is a felony in a similar vein, as one group of brazen Billings criminals are going to find out.
Someone stole Brittany Miller's horse trailer, and the $15,000-worth of custom equipment inside. She's not going to rest until she discovers whodunit and ensures they get the justice they deserve.
"My entire life is in that trailer," Miller told Cowboy State Daily. "I own it outright. I was finally ready to upgrade the last bit of my life to something nicer. That didn't happen, and I cannot just sit still and wait for something or nothing to happen.”
The Crime
Miller parked her 1997 blue Featherlite trailer, license plate CPV815, at the Public Auction Yards in Billings, Montana, on Jan. 31. It was locked and surrounded by other trailers, so Miller didn't have any reason to worry about its safety.
Around 10 p.m. that evening, a white pickup truck backed up to her trailer. It took them 28 minutes to hitch and haul it away.
"That tells me a lot about the people who did," Miller said. "They pulled into our sale yard at 9:43 p.m. and left around the back with my trailer at 10:12 p.m."
Miller discovered the theft around 7 a.m. the next morning. She got to see a surveillance video of the theft, obtained from a camera at the Public Auction Yards, but it was too grainy to make out any faces
The license plates of the truck weren't visible. Miller believes that was a deliberate obfuscation by the thieves.
"They entered our facility with the tailgate already down, so we could not pull a license plate off the back, and we couldn't see the front," she said. "To me, this was premeditated."
From there, the trailer rustlers fled westbound on I-90, passing by the Field 66 Refinery. An eyewitness confirmed this because she almost collided with the trailer as it rushed by.
"That trailer is finicky and does not like anything but a Ford," Miller said. "A solid eyewitness who saw them on the interstate said she almost hit a blue trailer because the lights weren't on. I don't know if they did not plug my trailer lights, but the running lights or the taillights weren't working when they left the facility."
Miller immediately reported the theft, but she’s not one to sit around and wait.
"I cannot just sit still and wait for something or nothing to happen," she said. "I'm doing a lot of grunt work, working every single lead, angle, and possible sighting that I can, until it either fades out or produces something.”
Brittany's friends are sitting around either. One of her best friends, Lucia Lhotak, has started a GoFundMe campaign to help her pal out.
"Brittany has given back so much to the western lifestyle and rodeo community and I feel it’s time that we give back," Lhotak wrote.
Posting Posse
Miller shared the details of the trailer theft on social media on Feb. 1. Since then, the information and images have been widely disseminated, being shared over 5,000 times on Facebook.
In addition to an outpouring of support, many people are doing their own investigations and doing whatever they can to track down the trailer. Calls have come in from several states.
"I feel really bad for everyone driving a blue horse trailer right now, because a few of them have gotten pulled over already," she said.
One of those calls came from Platte County. Someone thought they saw Miller’s trailer on I-25 near Wheatland.
“That was the strongest sighting we've had in last couple days,” Miller said. “The Wyoming Highway Patrol was extremely helpful, dispatched that information to all the troopers, and they confirmed that was not the correct trailer. So, that lead is gone.”
Some people have tried to help Miller by posting AI-enhanced images of her trailer, but she respectfully asked them to refrain from doing so. If she wants to recover her trailer and equipment, it's best to rely on hard facts.
“I do not want to put speculation out there," she said. "I'm just trying to follow any concrete leads with timestamps.”
The Loss
Miller, 33, moved to Montana in 2010 with "just a bag of clothes" to attend the University of Montana Western in Dillon. She's now a highly skilled bronc rider who was inducted into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame last year.
Miller isn't distraught over the loss of the trailer, which she was in the process of trading in for an upgrade. If they want it, they can have it.
The true loss is all the tack and equipment she had inside.
"I've got three custom saddles, a couple bridle bits, and four really nice custom snaffles in there," she said. "They're all high-quality pieces of tack, marked and stamped, and I've worked and saved for over 15 years to buy it and make my life easier."
She worked hard to earn the JM Capriola, Doug Hoiness, and Diamond G Cactus saddles and other items she carried in her trailer for her job. She estimated that the total value of the equipment was around $15,000.
"I've spent 15 years earning, buying, and trading," she said. "I sold a lot of horses to pay for nice saddles and equipment to make my life easier. I just sold a horse that Tuesday that I was going to use as a down payment for a new trailer, and trade the old one in."
Fortunately, Miller didn't lose any horses or livestock in the theft, but it's still been a hard blow.
"All these things are replaceable, but it just makes my life so hard," she said. "I just want what I earned to make my life nicer."
Seeing Blue
Miller said the distinct features on her stolen trailer are the conspicuous amount of rust on all sides, a tack room door with a black handle and a key lock on the right side, and the windows on either side of the nose.
"A lot of trailers are being pulled over that are stock trailers, so there's no tack room and no windows," she said. "There are black windows on both sides of the nose of my trailer, and the back door has no slots in it. It's a solid back door."
Also, there’s the finicky lights. If the thieves are foolish enough to move the trailer by night, there’s a good chance the running lights and taillights might not be on.
“If, for some reason, they're traveling with it at night, and you almost hit a blue trailer, that's probably mine,” she said.
So far, it's been hard to determine the make and model of the pickup truck that stole the trailer. Miller and others who've seen security camera footage believe it's a newer model Chevrolet, but it could also be a Ford.
Law enforcement officers are on the lookout, but Miller is continuing her own investigation. Never underestimate the tenacity of a cowgirl pulled up by their bootstraps.
Miller has identified 25 to 30 buildings with security cameras that might have captured footage of the theft. She's approaching each and every one of them.
"I need to go to, tell my story, and ask permission to look at their footage," she said. "For the most part, I've had a lot of really good support."
Miller's equipment is all branded, covered with unique designs, or has a traceable serial number. She has all the specifics, so anyone with a suspicion can verify.
Miller believes this was a targeted theft. There were several trailers parked at the Public Auction Yards that night, but her’s was the only one that was stolen.
Miller’s hoping the thieves might incriminate themselves while she continues her investigation.
“I'm kind of counting on something dumb to happen, honestly,” she said. “I would highly doubt that they're stupid enough to go back to our sale yard with as much publicity as this case has gotten, but you can hope they're stupid enough”
Anyone who has a possible lead on Miller's stolen trailer can contact Miller directly. If it's promising enough, she will forward that information to the law enforcement officers working her case.
“I don't care about the trailer,” she said. “I want all my equipment back."
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
