Woman with calf, dog, limo 'just wanted a friend'

HAYES CENTER -- A South Dakota woman accused of criminal mischief and theft in Hayes County tells a convoluted story about getting lost while driving a black stretch limousine to an abandoned farm structure and stealing a calf because she was "lonely and wanted a friend."

Hayes County Sheriff Tom Dow told the Hayes Center Times-Republican newspaper that the woman's story started when the manager of the Midway Motel in Hayes Center discovered damage to a motel room door and missing towels and blankets early Tuesday morning. The women driving the black stretch limo with California license plates had rented the room with cash.

While Dow and a Nebraska State Patrol trooper were investigating damage to the motel room, the limo drove past the motel. The trooper stopped the car three miles south of Hayes Center and the woman, 34 years old, was taken into custody.

Inside the car were the missing items from the motel, a black calf and a dog.

According to Dow, the woman said that she and two men had been squatting in an abandoned structure in rural Hayes County.

The woman told Dow she had gotten lost trying to find the structure and checked into the motel for the night. She said that some time during the night, she locked herself out of the room, so she pried open the door instead of waking someone up to get another key.

She left the motel also during the night, taking towels, blankets, the bedspread, pillows, a hairdryer and menus to Hayes Center cafes.

Dow said the calf belonged to Mick Cox. The woman said she took it because she "was lonely and wanted a friend."

Dow doesn't know yet who the dog belongs to. The calf has been returned to Cox.

Dow said no charges will be filed against the two men, also from South Dakota. "I have no idea what their plans were," Dow told the Times-Republican. One of the men is supposedly related to the landowner, Dow said.

The woman is jailed in the Phelps County jail in Holdrege, charged with criminal mischief and theft. Her bond has been set at $5,000.