If there were ever a great crime-gone-wrong story, we found it in Mankato.
"Saturday night at about 11:30 we received a 911 call from a citizen in Mankato who saw what she described as two young girls walking a goat down Riverfront Drive, one of our busiest streets, with a goat on a leash," says Mankato Police Commander Amy Vokal.
In what should go down as the greatest abduction caper in Mankato history, two sisters, ages 5 and 7, successfully freed a baby goat from the Sibley Farm Park Saturday night and walked her over a mile to their neighborhood when the law finally stepped in after getting the 911 call.
"When questioned they said the goat had been living in their bedroom closet and they said their mom knew but dad didn't. They thought it was better if we kept it on the down low and didn't tell their dad," Vokal said grinning.
This was no fly by night goat-capping.
The girls saw the goat at a birthday party earlier on Saturday, they told police, and began the elaborate plan.
"You know they are crafty. I mean they really conspired. They brought the leash with them to the park; they had every intention of bringing home a pet goat," Vokal said.
But in the end walking a busy street in footie pajamas toting a goat at 5 and 7 years old did them in.
The goat had to go back to the zoo.
The girls had to go home.
The law, while it was fought, won.
"You know it is one of those stories where as a cop you shake your finger at them but you are trying not to burst out laughing," Vokal said.