Owner distraught after man demands money before returning missing dog
MIRAMICHI, N.B. — It was the call she was hoping for, but not the call she expected. Denise Ramsay’s German shepherd golden retriever mix dog had been missing for four days after vanishing from her yard in Miramichi, N.B. She received a call on New Year’s Day and the man on the other end of the line said he had her dog Sadie.
“He could have been my hero,” said Ramsay in a phone interview. “But it went bad so quickly.”
She said the man wanted money in exchange for the 12-year-old dog and said he would not give her back until the cash was transferred.
Ramsay had let Sadie and her other dog Samie, a cocker spaniel outside around 10 p.m. on Dec. 28. But when it came time for the dogs to go back inside, Sadie did not come.
She’s never wandered away from home before because she has a collar that emits a sound when she reaches the perimeter of their property, said Ramsay.
Friends and family searched for Sadie until 4 a.m. the next day. Ramsay even enlisted the help of a snowmobiler to keep an eye out and a drone was used to scour the area. She has also widely publicized on Facebook that her dog was missing.
On Jan. 1, Ramsay received a call from a blocked number while sitting in her husband’s truck on a lunch break.
Initially, she was relieved because the man on the other end of the line said he had Sadie. But the conversation quickly turned sour.
“My husband told the man he would meet him anywhere, and he said, ‘No, that’s not how this is going to go down. You need to send me the money first’,” said the 39-year-old woman.
It’s our worst nightmare ever. I just need her home. It’s not the same. Denise Ramsay
Not knowing if the man actually had Sadie, Ramsay kept him on the line and called 911 on another phone, but when the man realized the 911 operator was listening in on the conversation via speakerphone, he hung up.
Ramsay said if she wasn’t so distraught, she would have taken the man’s email and made the transfer.
“All he had to do was say, ‘I found your dog,’ and he would have got a reward and he would have been my best friend for the rest of my life,” said Ramsay, adding that police have said they will watch out for Sadie, but there’s not much else they can do at this point.
Police were not immediately available to comment on the matter. But Sgt. Bob Bruce told the Saint John Telegraph-Journal on Friday that officers have been on the lookout for Sadie.
Ramsay’s family is devastated without their beloved dog with long black and gold fur.
“It’s our worst nightmare ever. I just need her home. It’s not the same,” she said.
“My other dog is crying and whining all the time. They’ve been together since they were puppies. Sadie is the oldest and I have another dog (Samie) that is a year younger. They’ve never been separated.”
Ramsay said she’s offering a no-questions-asked $1,000 reward for Sadie’s return.