Dead dog in U-Haul sparks lawsuit against the officers who found it

By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com

CADDO VALLEY, Arkansas — A Tennessee woman, arrested in 2024 on a trio of misdemeanor charges, is suing the City of Caddo Valley over claims that a policeman killed her dog. An official police account, however, tells another story.

The plaintiff, 24-year-old Krystal Bledsoe, was arrested at the Pilot Travel Center on the evening of June 9, 2024, following a brief investigation of a fraudulent money wire transaction that transpired at the register. Bledsoe, who hails from the Memphis suburb of Cordova, gave officers multiple false names and resisted arrest, according to a police report filed by the Caddo Valley Police Department. She told law enforcement that she was on a “road trip” to visit a sibling in Hot Springs. A Pilot manager alerted police to the allegedly fraudulent Western Union exchange.

Bledsoe claims in a civil lawsuit, filed Jan. 21, 2025, that her dog was killed during the arrest, and that she was denied a “detailed explanation or documentation regarding the handling, killing or disposal” of her dog. Bledsoe repeatedly requested information and documentation concerning the actions leading to the dog’s demise, according to the complaint. Each request, she says, was denied.

A lengthy police report filed by CVPD Lt. James Brown notes that, during the vexing process of getting Bledsoe into the backseat of his police car, she made mention of a dog that was in her vehicle, a U-Haul rental van parked at the fuel pumps. Bledsoe was transported to the Clark County Detention Center on charges of theft of property, obstructing governmental operations, and resisting arrest. Bledsoe was left in the care of jail staff, then Brown returned to the truck stop, where he and another officer made a gruesome discovery inside the U-Haul.

Editor’s note: The following paragraphs contain disturbing details. Reader discretion is advised.

Brown initially took a peek through the van’s windows and saw no evidence of a dog inside. He then proceeded inside the Pilot to resume his investigation of the wire fraud. Brown and Officer Issac Perry then opened the driver’s side of the U-Haul to find a medium-sized dog, lying dead in the floorboard area beneath the driver’s seat. The police report says the dog had expelled fluids from its mouth and that there were more than a dozen flies buzzing and feces on the floorboard. Officer Perry’s account notes that Brown attempted to wake the animal and check for a pulse. “The dog was dead,” Perry wrote. “It is not known how long the dog [had been] dead, [and] I did not that he had begun to stiffen up when he was removed” from the van, which officers had towed from the scene.

Brown returned to the jail, where he delivered Bledsoe a citation for the misdemeanor charges, and where jailers recovered an amount of cash matching what Bledsoe received in the Western Union transaction. Informed that her dog was deceased, Bledsoe reportedly became upset and denied it could have been dead. She reportedly made mention of the dog having vomited fluids, adding that’s “what dogs do when they overheat and die.” She denied that the animal vomited while she was in the vehicle.

Bledsoe has since been released from jail custody and is awaiting trial for the criminal charges against her. Court records indicate that a trial has been rescheduled three times in Clark County District Court. The next trial date has been set for April 15.

Bledsoe is representing herself in the civil case, and is seeking $23,000 in compensatory damages, as well as court costs and punitive damages determined by the court. She also is demanding that a jury hear the matter in trial.