Iowa Woman Arrested On Child Assault Charges At Bow Truck Stop

Concord NH

31 August, 2021

1:01 PM

Description

BOW, NH — A woman from Iowa was arrested on child assault charges after an incident at a Bow truck stop on Thursday. Officers were sent to the Alltown Pilot Travel Center on Route 3A for a report of a missing child around 5:30 p.m. Heather Holden, 44, of North 9th Street in Carter Lake, IA, was at the truck stop, doing laundry and showering with others when a child she was with disappeared. The child, 7, was last seen exiting the Dunkin' Donuts from a rear door. Holden, according to a court affidavit, did not know what the boy was wearing as he had just showered. A sergeant accessed video surveillance at the store, in order to establish a timeline for the disappearance and get a clothing description of the boy. While watching the surveillance video, the sergeant saw the boy take some change off a dryer and place the money in his pocket. Holden appeared to become angry with the child and spanked him, the report stated, about four or five times. Holden was then accused of slapping the boy in the back of the head — "hard enough that his face almost came in contact with the dryer," an affidavit said. The sergeant then accused her of kicking the boy twice, causing him to fall to the ground. While the boy was in the fetal position, Holden kicked a backpack toward his face. "Holden starts throwing things and appears to be yelling at (the boy) while he is on his knees," the sergeant said while describing the video. "Holden then walks over to (the boy) and kicks him three times in the ribs before picking up the backpack and throwing it at him." Another sergeant arrived with the town's K-9 unit but while setting up a perimeter, police heard from New Hampshire State Police that the boy was found wandering on Interstate 93. The first sergeant spoke with Holden and asked her to walk through all that happened. While talking about doing laundry, "Holden paused" and said "they had a fight." She was accused of admitting to seeing the boy take some change and "lost it on him," the report said. The sergeant attempted to question Holden further but she did not want to get into specifics, the affidavit said. State police brought the boy to the truck stop and the sergeant questioned him about what happened. He said he ran away because Holden "beat" him, the report stated. The boy had a few bug bites on his arms and legs but otherwise, was fine, the report stated. Holden was arrested on endangering the welfare of a child and six simple assault charges. She was held on preventive detention at the Merrimack County Jail and arraigned in Concord District Court on Friday. Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Bow Police Department and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports. Got a news tip? Send it to [email protected]. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel.