Woman who reported kittens thrown from SUV is charged

Police say evidence is that cats weren't killed as she says

Credit: Media General News Service Photo

A 5-week-old kitten perches on the shoulder of Raven Bradshaw, 13. Her mother, Nikki, said she rescued it.

By: By Sarah Newell Williamson | MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Published: July 03, 2008

HICKORY

The woman who claims that she saved a kitten thrown from an SUV onto U.S. 321 on June 13 was charged with animal cruelty yesterday.

Hickory police arrested Heather Nicole "Nikki" Bradshaw, 31, at the police department after she went there to talk with the investigating officer.

Bradshaw 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," she said. The police "are just trying to find an easy way out. I can't believe they think I would do this."

On June 13, Bradshaw reported that she saw a man driving a black Cadillac Escalade drop a bag out of his vehicle on U.S. 321.

Before she could get to the bag, she said, it was run over by several vehicles. Bradshaw said that three of the calico kittens in the bag were dead.

The fourth kitten, which was cream-colored, survived. Bradshaw took it to Catawba Valley Animal Hospital to be checked out, and adopted it.

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

"We've looked into every detail very carefully," he said. "We've checked into every tip that was called in."

Capt. Clyde Deal said that investigators began to be suspicious of Bradshaw over inconsistencies in her story.

Murphy dug up the dead kittens buried in Bradshaw's yard on Friday.

He said that the kittens were taken to the Northwestern Regional Animal Diagnostic Laboratory in Elkin to see how they died and how long they had been dead.

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

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

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 that it was the Humane Society's suggestion that Bradshaw go public with what she said she saw on U.S. 321.

Deitz said that the Humane Society is still supporting Bradshaw.

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

■ Sarah Newell Williamson is a reporter for the Hickory Daily Record.