2 Women Who Started Springfield Rumors Speak Out

Threats against Springfield have prompted intervention from the state's governor after the dissemination by Donald Trump, JD Vance, and others of an unsubstantiated allegation that Haitian immigrants are abducting and eating pets there. Now, two women involved in jump-starting that rumor are speaking out, with one saying she never meant for it to spiral so out of control. "I was not raised with hate," 35-year-old Springfield resident Erika Lee tells the New York Times. "My whole family is biracial. I never wanted to cause problems for anyone."

• Neighbor No. 1: Lee says that a "game of telephone" began after she heard that a neighbor's daughter's cat had vanished, with whispers that a Haitian local may have taken the pet. She says she posted the rumor on Facebook, then afterward decided to ask the neighbor for "proof."
• Neighbor No. 2: That neighbor, Kimberly Newton, now tells misinformation watchdog NewsGuard, "I'm not sure I'm the most credible source because I don't actually know the person who lost the cat." Newton says the cat owner wasn't her daughter but "an acquaintance of a friend." Per NewsGuard, Newton "heard about the supposed incident from that friend, who, in turn, learned about it from 'a source that she had.'" Newton now admits: "I don't have any proof."

• Canton woman: The rumor was helped along by the arrest in Canton, Ohio, of 27-year-old Allexis Telia Ferrell, who was recently accused of killing and eating a cat. Ferrell isn't an immigrant, however—she's an American citizen who was born in Canton, and she isn't Haitian.
• Remorse: At any rate, Lee, who tells NewsGuard she's a Democrat who supports Donald Trump, now wishes she'd never posted an unverified rumor on social media—a post she has since deleted. "It just exploded into something I didn't mean to happen," she tells NBC News. She adds, to the Times: "I live next to Haitians—I have no issues with them. ... I hate myself for making that post."
• Aftermath: Despite Lee's regret, and despite local officials repeatedly debunking the rumor that Haitians are stealing and eating pets en masse, the damage has been done. "I know it's true—there were all kinds of cats in my neighborhood a few months ago, and now there are none," lifelong Springfield local Floyd Walden says. "They need to all be sent back to Haiti, it is as simple as that."

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