Kitten rescuer charged with animal cruelty, fraud

By SARAH NEWELL WILLIAMSON
Media General News Service
Published: July 3, 2008

HICKORY - The woman who claims she saved a kitten tossed from an SUV onto busy U.S. 321 on June 13 was arrested Wednesday and charged with animal cruelty.

Hickory police arrested Heather Nicole “Nikki” Bradshaw, 31, at the police department after she came there to talk with the investigating officer. She was charged with three counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals, filing a false police report and resisting a public official.

“The past few weeks have torn me up,” Bradshaw said. “(The police) are just trying to find an easy way out. I can’t believe they think I would do this.”

Police began investigating Bradshaw’s story about two weeks ago, said Officer Paul Murphy.

“We’ve looked into every detail very carefully,” he said. “We’ve checked into every tip that was called in.”

Murphy said that included calls of license tag numbers of black Cadillac Escalades that people called about.

“We received numerous calls about black Escalades, and went to homes to talk to owners to see if they matched the description that was given,” Murphy said. “We even checked out ones in the mall parking lot.”

Capt. Clyde Deal said investigators began to be suspicious of Bradshaw when they noticed numerous inconsistencies in her story.

Murphy dug up the dead kittens buried in Bradshaw’s yard on Friday. He said he placed the kittens in sealed evidence bags and took them to Northwestern Regional Animal Diagnostic Laboratory in Elkin to see how and how long ago they died. Murphy said he photographed the kittens at the lab when they were taken out of the bags.

“The injuries weren’t consistent with animals being in a sack or being struck by motor vehicles,” Deal said.

He said results from the tests also showed the kittens had been dead for less than two weeks, although Deal declined to say how long ago they died.

Deal confirmed the kittens dug up from Bradshaw’s yard are close in age to the surviving kitten, which is about 7 weeks old.

He would not comment on the color of the kittens that were dug up from the yard, but Keith Bradshaw, Nikki’s husband, said they were told by the police the kittens were gray.

“I have always maintained that the ones we buried were calico,” Nikki said.

Deal said the police are not planning to do a DNA test to confirm the surviving kitten is related to the deceased kittens.

Bradshaw said although she was home at the time police dug the kittens out of her yard, she didn’t see what, exactly, police dug up. The kittens were buried in a bag in the garden, to keep their dog from digging the kittens up again.

“I watched them digging, but when they were getting (the bag out), I turned around because I didn’t want to see it,” Bradshaw said.

Her husband was not home when the police dug up the kittens.

Deal declined to comment on a reason Bradshaw might have done this, and said he’s not sure at this time where the three deceased kittens came from.

Bradshaw does have two other cats, but they’re both males.

Bradshaw has hired an attorney, and said she plans to fight the charges.

Dianna Deitz, the animal services manager with the Humane Society of Catawba County, said it was the Humane Society’s suggestion that Bradshaw go public with what she said she witnessed on U.S. 321. Bradshaw first approached the Humane Society about what she said happened, before going to the media, hoping someone would recognize the person driving the Escalade.

Deitz said the Humane Society also is still supporting Bradshaw.

“We will continue to support her in this until someone can give us some kind of evidence otherwise,” Deitz said.

Deal said he doesn’t expect any more charges, but wouldn’t rule it out, either. He said the investigation is ongoing, and if anyone has any other information, they can contact the police department at 328-5551.

Related story:

Motorist tosses bag of kittens onto highway - June 16, 2008