LAKE WORTH, Fla. (WSVN) – Detectives in Palm Beach County have located and returned a dog to its Lake Worth home after it appeared to be stolen by someone driving in the neighborhood.
A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured a person driving a white sedan scooping up the 10-year-old tea-cup Yorkie Chihuahua mix, named Bitty, on Sept. 18.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said detectives tracked down the canine in Miami using the vehicle’s license plate.
Missy Watt and Jenn Haun, the dog’s owners, said they have been anxiously waiting for Bitty’s return.
“Bitty, oh, my God, and then we just stood there holding her and cried,” Watt said. “Oh, my God, did I cry. We couldn’t stop crying.”
However, up until Friday night, the couple said they were getting nervous that Bitty would never be found.
“People were about to hand her off to someone else, so we could have ended up losing her for good,” Watt said. “It was truly a surprise. We had no idea we were going to have her home last night.”
That night, a detective called them and asked them to come outside because they needed to sign something.
“We got a text message from the detective working the case of our little missing bits here,” Watt said, “and they said they just needed a couple signatures and to just come out, normal. It was pretty late but routine.”
After coming outside to meet the detective, that is when the couple were reunited with the three-and-a-half pound canine.
“The nightmare was over, yeah, yeah, so grateful,” Watt said. “We were wondering if she was OK, if she was being mistreated — every possible thought.”
Detectives said the person who took Bitty thought the dog had been abandoned.
The person that took the dog will not be charged since detectives believe it was an accident, and the dog has been returned.
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