Man who hunted al-Qaeda rescues dognapped Yorkie
LANDOVER, Md. — Raquel Witherspoon had spent a frantic 24-hours searching for her daughter’s Yorkshire terrier, after a shocking discovery. Footage from her doorbell camera showed a woman lure Avery with treats and then make off with the tiny dog.
Suddenly, Witherspoon’s phone buzzed to life in her Maryland home that day after the pup disappeared in June.
In menacing texts, someone said they had Avery and sent a video of the brown and black pup in a cage.
The conversation was punctuated with a threat to kill the dog and a demand for ransom.
Witherspoon was the victim of a crime that appears to be on the rise across the nation: dognapping. The latest numbers available from an American Kennel Club affiliate show dognappings increased 30% in the third quarter of 2022.
Experts say demand for and short supply of pure breeds and designer pooches like pomskies, shihpoos and maltipoos is creating a lucrative resale market where stolen dogs can fetch thousands.
The crimes have grabbed headlines, sometimes with violence, such as a wild gunfight which erupted between a Florida breeder and would-be nappers late in 2021.
But more often, dog owners say the crimes are quietly heart-wrenching. Witherspoon likened the loss of Avery in June to a kidnapping.
“It’s like losing a child,” she said.
Most stolen dogs are never recovered, but what followed was an effort to crack the identity of the dognapper. It brought together Witherspoon and a former Marine Corps operator, Rick Machamer, who offered skills he honed in Iraq to capture al-Qaeda fighters.
Using the ransom note sent to Witherspoon, Machamer was able to track down the household of the dognapper.
Four days after Avery went missing, Witherspoon got a tip that someone who lived in the household identified by Machamer was behind Avery’s dognapping. She took all the information to a police detective.
Two days of agonizing waiting followed.
Finally, a Prince George’s County police detective called and said, “I have Avery. I’m on my way,” Witherspoon said.
Prince George’s police said the dog was recovered in the Landover home Machamer identified and they charged a 16-year-old girl with stealing the dog. Police said the girl admitted involvement in the theft and attempt to extort Witherspoon for money and pleaded guilty before trial.