What was supposed to be a homecoming for a rescue dog turned into a search. Rosie, a Pitbull and German Shepherd mix, was in Hilary O'Kelly's car when it got stolen Saturday morning.
O’Kelley was getting ready to take Rosie to meet Melanie Epstein, Rosie’s foster in Tucson, around 5 in the morning. O’Kelley had just picked up the rescue dog Saturday night from another transporter. Rosie was on her way to southern Arizona from a shelter in Stanislaus County, California, where she was on a euthanasia list.
She loaded Rosie into her car inside her closed garage. When she pulled out of the garage, she needed to run back inside to make sure another door was locked.
“When I came back out, the car was sitting here and slowly started backing out. I went after the car and tried to open the door and the next thing I knew, it just took down the street,” she said.
In her 13 years of transporting dogs, O’Kelley has heard the stories of other people’s mishaps.
“It could happen to anybody, and that’s what we say. Now, it happened to me,” she said, adding that she doesn’t usually leave a dog in the car alone, even for two seconds.
O’Kelley filed a police report of her missing car, wallet and Rosie. She said reported to police that whoever stole the car also used her credit card at 7:30 a.m.
“We want to find Rosie. The car, the wallet, everything else is irrelevant. We really want to spread the word,” she said.
After calling police, O’Kelley called Epstein about Rosie missing.
“It was horrific. It was awful,” she said. “It’s a very visceral feeling.”
Epstein was getting ready to go meet O’Kelley halfway in Eloy to pick up Rosie when she received the call.
“I'm just very worried about Rosie. She's had a really hard life already and she was in the shelter for three months and so she just needs consistency and she's a sweet dog and she deserves the best, and I'm just worried about her,” Epstein said.
Sunday night, O'Kelley updated ABC15 to say Rosie was found tied up at a store in Mesa. Police were called and to the store and took Rosie to a veterinary center around 5:30 p.m.
O'Kelley plans to take Rosie to Eloy Sunday night where they'll meet up with Melanie for her to take Rosie home in Tucson.
As of Sunday night, O'Kelley's car has still not been found.
Phoenix Police says you can call the non-emergency number 602-262-6151 if the car is found.
O’Kelley’s car is a dark blue Mercedes ML350, license plate CA9CAB. There is a gold “Furry Farm Rescue” sticker on it.
