OREGON CITY, Oregon — A family in Clackamas County was reunited with their service dog. She was inside their vehicle when it was stolen, Clackamas County Sheriff's deputies said.
"She just is the absolute love of my family's life," said Amber Wells.
Takoda, a female pitbull mix, is her 8-year-old son's service dog and helps everyone in the family feel safe.
Around 4:00 a.m. on Monday, Wells said someone broke into her 2006 Nissan Sentra that was parked outside her Oregon City home. She said Takoda had been sleeping inside, intentionally separated from another family pet.
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"She was in the car because she was in heat," Wells said.
A neighbor who happened to be up took a video showing her vehicle driving away.
"They were in here in the parking lot and out with the car in less than 40 seconds," said Wells.
On Wednesday, Clackamas County Sheriff's officials said deputies spotted the stolen car. The driver was pulling into the Crown Court Apartments on Southeast 97th Avenue in Clackamas.
"The cops were hot on his trail," Wells said.
Investigators said 26-year-old Derek Johnson tried to get away and ended up hitting two parked cars. Police said Johnson and a passenger, a woman, ran into an apartment. Several hours later, the pair surrendered. Johnson was held on charges of attempt to elude a police officer, failure to perform duties of a driver, and a warrant from the Oregon Department of Corrections for larceny and identity theft.
Deputies called Wells and told her they had her car, and that there was a pit bull inside. However, the dog was not Takoda.
"When I got there it was not Takoda in the car; it was this male, gray pit bull," Wells said. "So immediately it was like, 'Where is Takoda?'"
That's when Wells' nephew, Michael Morris, stepped in.
"I went straight onto every app that I have and posted pictures of the dog," Morris said. "I posted updates saying that we had the car, not the dog."
His efforts paid off. That same afternoon, Wells got a tip from someone who recognized Takoda's photo. The caller said they'd seen Takoda days earlier at a different apartment complex in Happy Valley. Wells said the tipster told her Takoda seemed upset, was with a couple and another pit bull that wasn't friendly.
"They were a good citizen who was helping my dog and didn't know my dog had been stolen," Wells said. "They thought that the people who stole my car were the owners of my dog."
Sheriff's deputies went to the apartment in Happy Valley and recovered Takoda, then reunited her with Wells and her family.
"It was heartfelt," Morris said, talking about the reunion. "It really hit."
"I'm so grateful for the police in all that they did in recovering the car and the dog," Wells said.