Great Dog / Van Adventure

Some of you may have seen posters and postings on a van that was stolen from Wallingford Saturday night…with a dog inside. We wanted you to know there’s a happy ending!

Sunday morning, we saw a post on Facebook from our friend Zoey, reporting that her van had been stolen, with a dog she had rescued from the pound inside, which  we reposted the Wallyhood Facebook page. By Sunday afternoon, King 5 had picked up the story, and, it turns out, the thief had realized what they had done. Here’s what we read from Zoey:

King 5 was going to meet me at the spot where my van was stolen at 6:30 tonight to spread the word and to find Laska. So I headed that way to hang out at the Griz and wait.

At 6pm, I got a phone call from a restricted number. A young woman says “Are you the person with the missing van and dog? Yah – I saw your ad on craigslist and I’m pretty sure I saw your van”. She gave me the address and then started acting weird.  She said “this might sound strange – but is there a reward for the dog?” – so I said “OMG you saw the dog too! The dog is there???!!!” and she says “Well I think so. She may have been hiding under things ya know”. That’s when I knew I was talking to the thief. I said “Yes! Can you give me your contact info – or do you want to just meet me at the van?”. She said “yah… no… I had trouble when i tried to give someone their bicycle back… so …. I’ll just call you back”. And she hung up.

I called 911 and hopped in a cab. the 911 operator called me while I was enroute and told me that it was indeed my van – AND the pup was inside. Woo hooo! I started to cry. I met the officers at my van that was behind what used to be the White Elephant on 65th near Roosevelt.

She was sooooo happy to see me!

King 5 met me there and took some footage of the re-union. It may air tonight at 10 or 11pm

There are weird little things missing and I can tell that they had started to strip the van from the front to the back. You can tell exactly where they found the dog and stopped cold.  Another great piece of news is that my backpack with my laptop was in the very back – and they didn’t get that far. I feel like I won the lottery!!!!! The only major thing missing is Shamus’ backpack that has his PS2 and bunch of paperwork.

We are home now. Rupert is beside himself with happiness. I am too. Whew!!!!!

Thank you everyone! Your energy, well wishes, and efforts is so appreciated – and I know in my heart helped this come to a good conclusion. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!