I saw a very sad story on the evening news 2 nights ago, although I can't find anything about it online.  (let me know if you do)  I believe it is completely true.  An elderly lady walked into 7-11 in North Naples FL and left her keys in the car with her beloved companion, a 12 year old c**ker spaniel, in the back seat. This exact same crime happened in Nov when someone stopped at that 7-11 to make a phone call and her 14 year old labrador was in the car.  According to that earlier story, the owner grabbed the thief and tried to pull him out of the car, but he still was able to drive off with the car & dog.  Very strange. Sad, but still strange. I guess I simply can't get into the head of a criminal (thank goodness) who is brazen enough to carjack a vehicle at such a public location.  I'm not sure if any crimes have been reported at our local 7-11.  I often see cops hanging around there. It's frequented by tourists in wet bathing suits, so they probably keep a close eye on that location or try to keep the negative stories from the media.  Maybe I'll park closer to the front door next time.

Why do people leave their keys in the car? 

When searching for this local article to see if the dog was found, I came across a similar story in MN.  That story apparently hit the headlines in St. Paul and was on the evening news.  But look at this update that the dog's owners wrote.  Sounds suspicious to me.

http://frenchtown.com/brutus/

One of the calls came from Michael E., his fiancée is in a coma at a local Hospital. She has shown signs of improvement and saw the news coverage and told Mike to call and to offer money for a reward. I spoke with Mike and told him that Hospitals are expensive and that they should keep their money.

Huh?  How does someone in a coma watch tv news coverage?  Maybe I'm reading too much into it, and am not as trusting as I should be, but it's possible for anyone to cry "my car was stolen and my dog was in the back seat."  Then the owners started a fund to raise money for a reward and they have a web site too with photos.  (They found the car, but no dog.)  Oh -  and this happened on Christmas Eve too.  Sounds fishy to me. Guess watching stories like Susan Smith who cried "please find my babies" after she drowned them in her car have jaded me a little.

Anyway, I hope the woman finds her c**ker spaniel. You could tell she was in shock when the reporters were sticking their microphones in her face.  She kept pleading that she didn't care if they kept the car, but her dog is on medication and needs to be returned soon.  Same story, same store.  That area used to be very safe.  Wish I could afford to move back to Captiva or Sanibel Island.  When I lived on the islands someone committed a robbery and the police didn't even have to chase the idiot.  They just called the person at the drawbridge! 

By the way,  I was very surprised at how many Google results came up about cars stolen with pets inside.