While searching for missing dog stolen during burglary, woman's dad passes away
HOUSTON - A dog stolen during a home burglary in Mission Bend last week has been reunited with her owner. While searching for her missing dog, the owner received the terrible news that her father had passed away.
Alexandra Medellin recorded the moment she walked up with law enforcement to meet an unidentified woman who had apparently found her missing dog, Lilly.
Three days ago, Medellin says her 14-year-old toy yorkie was taken when a man seen on surveillance video, armed with a hammer and a knife, who broke into her Mission Bend home and ransacked the place.
The man stole more than $30,000 worth of valuables including her work laptop, camera equipment, designer handbags and jewelry.
"I’m not the only house in my neighborhood. In fact, not even in my block or area, he's hit up at least eight homes that we know of, and my house is the only house that he took a dog from," Medellin said.
For a few hours on Saturday, Medellin and her daughter, Anastasia, held on tightly and gave as many kisses as they could to Lilly, ecstatic to have her back home.
Then the following morning, Medellin received unimaginable news, once again.
"Right before this all happened, I was at the hospital with my dad. He was actually being moved from ICU into hospice care. Today, unfortunately, my dad passed away when I was on the way to go see him, so it's just very heartbreaking because all this time that was wasted dealing with this whole robbery and all this nonsense, it took away from seeing my dad and I didn't even get to say goodbye," Medellin said.
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Medellin’s 75-year-old dad, Roger, suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She knew his time was running short, but she never expected it to happen so soon.
"He took that away from me. He took away every last moment of anything that I could have had with my dad here on Earth, because I was so fixated on getting my dog back," Medellin said.
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It may only have taken the man just 15 minutes to steal tens of thousands of dollars' worth of belongings from Medellin’s home. But in those few minutes, he also stole her livelihood and the last precious moments she could’ve shared with her father.
"I'm trying to recover from the robbery. I'm trying to recover from my dog being missing to having to go and find her, and then getting her. And then last night, just finally feeling complete. And then this morning, waking up to just like so much resentment to a man that doesn't even understand the value of time," Medellin said.
So far, authorities have not identified the burglar. Anyone with information, is urged to call the Harris County Sheriff’s Office at (713) 221-6000.