PHOENIX — Lindsay Deyo has been trekking through north Phoenix on foot for months on a mission to locate her beloved service dog, Mya, a female American Bully she said was stolen by an unknown man during a park visit.
The 35-year-old Deyo quit a part-time waitressing job to dedicate herself to the search, posting missing dog signs across the area even as she wards off the seizures Mya would warn her of.
“I just feel like, not myself without her,” Deyo said of the broken bond between her and Mya, whom she adopted as a seven-week pup at the onset of the pandemic. “She’s my best friend.”
What happened to Mya?
Woman and canine were abruptly separated in the morning of Nov. 9 at a Phoenix apartment complex’s dog park. Deyo momentarily turned her sight away from Mya while at the enclosed green space. Once she looked back, her four-legged companion had vanished.
Calling out the dog’s name, Deyo scoured the apartment looking for Mya. Tears streamed down Deyo’s face while heavy rainfall rolled through the area as she realized Mya was taken.
“I was crying all day long,” Deyo said. “It was horrible.”
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Helping get Mya back home
Deyo thinks she managed to yield a description on the dognapper after speaking with two people at the apartments.
Mya appears to have been stolen by someone witnesses described as a Black man of medium complexion in his 20s, around 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, with tattooed arms and sporting a faded haircut, a red shirt and jeans.
One person even told Deyo this man had Mya on a leash and boasted about paying thousands of dollars to purchase her.
Deyo learned the park gate through which Mya would have been seized is not in the field of vision of apartment security cameras. She filed a police report but has no new leads.
The black-coated Mya has white fur over her chest and left leg, and has a c-shaped white mark on the back of her neck. She is less than 3 feet tall, weighs 80 pounds and was taken wearing a light purple collar tagged with identifying information.
A $1,500 reward has been set up for Mya’s safe return.
Mya is microchipped, so Deyo is pleading with the abductor to return the dog to a veterinarian or animal shelter that can then reconnect them. The dog may also be surrendered anonymously by calling the nonprofit Humane Animal Rescue & Trapping Team at 602-601-2604.
Still thinking of Mya to control seizures
Trained specifically as a service dog, Mya would alert Deyo of an oncoming seizure, help her retrieve her medicine and bark people away during an episode.
Seizures have plagued Deyo since youth and come on when she has low blood sugar or when she is fatigued. Deyo has managed to control her seizures by thinking of Mya.
But she has been struck by two serious seizures since Mya’s been gone.
“Luckily, I was around my mom and my family, actually both of the times,” she said.
No matter how tired Deyo may have been at the end of a busy day, she would ensure Mya got in her nightly walk, her seven-year boyfriend, Daniel Hill, 37, said. Deyo shared that worrying over the whereabouts of Mya recently induced a three-week pregnancy’s miscarriage. In addition to the loss of a pregnancy from the stress of having Mya ripped from their lives, Hill sees how Deyo continues to agonize over losing her service dog.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Hill said. “She still cries. Lately, at least once a day, if not more than that.”
Deyo is concerned Mya could be used for dogfighting due to her breed.
“I don’t really want to think the worst, but you never know,” she said, her voice shaking. “If they were to do that to her, like, she won’t defend herself because she’s not trying to be aggressive.”
Follow Jose R. Gonzalezon Twitter: @jrgzztx.
