Ohio woman who sparked rumors about Haitian migrants eating pet cats and dogs in Springfield breaks her silence amid ‘fears for her safety’

A Springfield, Ohio, woman who spread rumors about Haitian migrants eating pets says she regrets it and insists it was never her intention to attack the Haitian community.

Erika Lee, 35, spoke out after alerting locals in a Facebook group that her “neighbor told me her daughter’s friend lost her cat” but had hung the pet “from a branch” in front of a Haitian family’s home.

However, Lee now admits she had no firsthand knowledge of the claims, and the neighbor referenced in the post, Kimberly Newton, said she also heard the story from an acquaintance, not her daughter.

But before the confusing debate was resolved (police continued to insist that no reports of pet eating had been filed), the rumor went viral.

“It just blew up into something I didn’t want to happen,” Erika Lee said NBC News – after the wild conspiracy theory even found its way into Donald Trump’s presidential debate material.

Erika Lee, 35, admitted she heard the rumor about Haitian migrants eating cats in her town from her neighbor Kimberly Newton (pictured). She heard it from a friend, who heard it from the cat’s alleged owner.

Lee’s Facebook post sparked a social media frenzy after screenshots circulated on X in which she warned that Haitian migrants were hanging cats from a branch “like you would slaughter a deer, and cutting the cats up to eat.”

“I’ve been told they do this with dogs, they did it in Snyder Park with the ducks and geese,” she continued, claiming she “heard that last one from park rangers and the police.”

“Keep a close eye on these animals,” she concluded her message.

The post caught the attention of conservatives, many of whom also seized on the footage of an American woman allegedly stomping on a cat’s head before eating it. The wild video was wrongly attributed to the Haitian immigrant community.

Lee now says she never expected her post to “go beyond Springfield” and has since deleted it because she didn’t expect it to cause a national buzz.

Conservatives also seized footage of an American woman allegedly stomping on a cat’s head before eating the animal in a wild video falsely attributed to the Haitian migrant community

Lee first admitted that News security guard that she had heard the rumor about Haitian migrants eating cats in her town from her neighbor Kimberly Newton, who had heard it from a friend, who had heard it from the alleged cat owner.

When asked about it, Newton said she was “not sure I’m the most reliable source.”

“I don’t really know the person who lost the cat,” she told NewsGuard, a company that combats misinformation. “I don’t have any evidence.”

She said the cat’s owner was “an acquaintance of a friend.” Newton originally heard about it from her friend, who had heard about it from a “source she had” before telling Lee, who then posted about it.

Newton also clarified that her source was not her daughter, as Lee claimed.

The city of Springfield, Ohio (pictured) has become a bone of contention in the presidential race, with the unsubstantiated rumor even reaching the hands of JD Vance and Donald Trump

While city officials say they have no evidence pets are at risk in Springfield, residents say it’s an online problem.

“In response to recent reports of criminal activity by immigrants in our city, we want to make it clear that there have been no credible reports or specific allegations that pets have been abused, injured or mistreated by individuals within the immigrant community,” Springfield officials said.

Although Ohio authorities insisted there were no reports they could investigate, the rumor spread so widely that both men at the top of the Republican ticket also confirmed it.

JD Vance mentioned the rumor on his X account, writing, “Months ago I brought up the issue of illegal Haitian immigrants draining welfare and generally causing chaos throughout Springfield, Ohio. Now reports are showing people having their pets kidnapped and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?”

A day later, Trump repeated similar statements during the debate, which was broadcast to 67 million Americans.

The post went national, even making it onto the debate stage, where Republican candidate Donald Trump (pictured at the debate) claimed the rumor as fact, despite moderators saying officials had found no evidence. The debate was broadcast to 67 million people

Lee was “shocked” to see that what she shared on Facebook also reached the former president.

“Honestly, I was blown away,” she told NewsGuard. “I didn’t expect this to lead to the presidency.”

Despite her 15 minutes of fame, she says she “hasn’t really been following the news about this that closely.”

“I’ve really only seen it on Facebook, in things that show up in my news feed or what other people share about things they’ve read about,” she said.

She also reiterated that she was only trying to inform people, and not saying that “Haitians as a whole… [are] bad.’