A Las Vegas family whose Pomeranian, Linus, was taken shortly after they returned from a family trip to California was reunited with him late Sunday after a search that lasted days.
Jaelle Johnson said she immediately knew her dog Linus was missing on Friday, Sept. 18 around 6 p.m. when she was supposed to feed him. Linus had been hanging around with her son in the garage area.
“I run back outside, start screaming bloody murder. ‘Where’s Linus? Linus, Linus,’ and I have this gut-wrenching feeling like he’s not here,” Johnson told The California Post. “No neighbor took him. He’s gone. I just know that he’s gone because Linus always stays right around the bushes to pee. ”
Johnson began searching her neighborhood of Summerlin and knocking on doors, asking neighbors to check their security cameras. The footage quickly gave her the first clues about what had happened.
One video showed Linus running down the street with a man chasing after him. Another showed the dog hiding underneath a neighbor’s car as the same man pursued him. A later recording showed the man carrying Linus away.
“I see him and little Linus running quickly back down the street from the house and this man is behind him in the frame, running after him,” Johnson said.
In one of the recordings, Johnson could also hear a woman with the man apparently talking about another delivery.
“She’s saying, ‘We have another order,’” Johnson recalled. “So I’m like, she’s a delivery driver.”
Johnson filed a police report with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, but said she was initially told it could take up to 48 hours before a detective was assigned to the case. She also contacted local television stations to get the word out about Linus.
A friend who is a detective eventually helped Johnson get the surveillance footage in front of investigators, which helped get Linus back.
“This is Detective Bianca. We have your dog,” Johnson recalled hearing.
Linus was returned to the family shortly before midnight Sunday Sept. 20, about 54 hours after he disappeared.
When Linus came home, he looked dramatically different from the dog who had disappeared two days earlier.
“He’s so dirty. He’s black. He had just had a bath before they got him. Like, you can’t even recognize this dog,” Johnson said. “He smells like smoke, like as if he was literally drenched in smoke.”
Johnson’s police report lists the alleged crime as grand larceny. Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Johnson said Linus also appeared exhausted and possibly dehydrated. His urine was dark, he was reluctant to be touched and mostly wanted to sleep after returning home. He did, however, eat his entire dinner and wagged his tail excitedly when she held him.
For Johnson and her two children, getting Linus back meant getting a member of their family back.
“Linus literally connects me to the greatest part of our family,” Johnson said, adding that when she’s away from him, “I lose like a part of my soul.”
The California Post reached out to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for details surrounding the investigation, but did not immediately hear back.
