Two months ago, 80-year-old Lillian Brown was heartbroken.
Bobby, her two-year-old beagle-terrier mix photo had gone missing.
Mrs. Brown, an Apache Junction, AZ widow, had adopted Bobby from a local animal shelter only months before – just after her husband of 48 years, and the couple’s beloved 16-year-old dog, had died.
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Brown often let Bobby stay with neighbors who lived in her trailer court in the winter. That’s what she did on April 3.
But this time, Bobby wasn’t there when she got home. Her neighbors insisted they had put him back in her trailer, but the dog had disappeared. Brown was frantic. She put ads in all the local papers and hung fliers at area businesses.
Source Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette
For two weeks after her beloved companion disappeared, Mrs. Brown slept in a chair on her porch, worried that Bobby would come back and not be able to get in. And she remained deeply suspicious of her neighbors.
"I refused to eat or drink, because without my dog I didn't want to live."
Source Channel 13 WTHR
Still: No Bobby. And the neighbors disappeared.
So Mrs. Brown did what many people used to do, back when charming local newspapers were the mainstay of the charming localities in which they were published: she wrote a letter to the editor of the Apache Junction News, which published it on April 16. In that letter, she asked for the community's help:
"Please bring my little buddy back to me."
Source Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette
Apache Junction News reporter Jill Jones, a dog lover, saw that letter, and did what good reporters do: she looked into the matter. First, she tracked down the missing neighbors, discovering them in Fort Wayne, Indiana, some 1877 miles away. Then, using records obtained from the county assessor’s office, she identified the Fort Wayne neighbors of Mrs. Brown’s former neighbors and wrote letters to them – asking that they contact her if they noticed a dog matching Bobby’s description.
Source Channel 13 WTHR
Last Saturday: Paydirt. Ms. Jones received an anonymous tip. A dog matching Bobby’s description – and answering to the name of Bobby – had been spotted, the tipster said. Ms. Jones contacted the Fort Wayne Police, who confirmed that the dog was, in fact, Bobby and, on Monday, Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control took possession of Bobby and outfitted him with an identification microchip.
Yesterday: Reunion! Continental Air Lines flew Bobby free of charge back to Phoenix.
Photos of Mrs. Brown’s reunion with Bobby here and here.
(Tissues recommended.)
As I said: Just a happy dog story. Thank goodness for reporters like Jill Jones.