WATAUGA COUNTY, N.C. — A former nurse at Watauga Medical Center has been charged with embezzlement and diverting controlled substances, as well as death by distribution, according to the Boone Police Department.
Shari Treadway was arrested Wednesday in Alexander County and is being held without bond in the Alexander County Detention Center in Taylorsville.
Court documents say Shari Treadway had access to controlled substances through her employment as a nurse and allegedly diverted Adderall and hydromorphone.
The warrants list Nov. 6, 2025, as the date of the offenses. Investigators allege Treadway delivered fentanyl and cocaine to her son, Seth Treadway, that same day and that the ingestion of those substances proximately caused his death.
The North Carolina Board of Nursing suspended her license, saying that “some of the controlled substances found in the home allegedly matched the hospital lot numbers and were identified as those missing from Watauga Medical Center.”
The board also confirmed that Seth Treadway was her son. Her neighbors say they only spoke to Shari Treadway once at a neighborhood meeting where she mentioned her son who was living in a camper on the property.
“She was nice,” said Danielle Mihai, a neighbor. “She talked with me. She said that she was a nurse, and she mentioned that her son was sick.”
Treadway remains in custody without bond as the case develops.
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