SALISBURY, Md.- After a week full of searching, the Burkett family was finally reunited Sunday, with its Bichon, Chelsea. The story took an unexpected twist after a anonymous tipster saw the story covered on Friday's newscast and spotted Chelsea in her neighborhood.
Two Sundays ago, The Burkett's realized 11-year-old Chelsea was missing.
Back when the entire ordeal began, the family had found a picture of Chelsea on the "Lost Pet PR" page on Facebook.
The family quickly reached out to a Good Samaritan who claimed she had found the missing dog in a Planet Fitness parking lot.
The Good Samaritan who refused to go on camera, told WBOC last Friday that she had accidentally given Chelsea away to two fake owners.
But the Burkett's are telling a different story.
"The person that took her to the Pet E.R., to see if she was chipped, we thought she was the Good Samaritan but she was actually a bad actor, that was the person who had the dog all along," said John Burkett, Chelsea's owner.
After the story aired on WBOC, an anonymous tipster reached out to the Burkett's daughter, Stephanie Burkett.
The tipster's relative knew the person who had found the dog.
"Somehow he had found out that she had the dog and had talked about how she got attached to the dog and wanted to keep her," said Stephanie.
Stephanie began to e-mail the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office, who then contacted the woman and began questioning her.
According to the tipster, the woman knew she was in trouble.
"She just wanted to dump her off somewhere and leave her somewhere random, so he just said, 'Give me the dog and we'll give her the dog,'" said Stephanie.
That tipster's plea worked, and the woman turned the dog over to the tipster who then returned Chelsea to her rightful owners.
The Burkett's are glad this entire ordeal is finally over.
WBOC reached out to the woman who had found the dog from the get-go but she claims her original story is true and she has not had the dog in her possession since the alleged exchange at the zoo.
The entire matter is still under investigation by the Sheriff's Office.
