Claudia Jaramillo Lopez is still searching for her stolen Yorkshire Terrier nearly a month after brazen thieves snatched the 10-year-old pup from her Queens yard.
Lopez, 47, told The Post last Friday that she took her eye off Chanel for only two minutes around 6 p.m. Sept. 17 when opportunistic thieves grabbed the dog from the front lawn of her College Point home at 130th Street and 14th Avenue. By the time she circled back around the corner with her other Yorkshire Terrier, Leti, Chanel had vanished.
“I didn’t see her anywhere,” Lopez said by phone in a Spanish-language interview. “I called her name because she would hide in the parking space and when I called she would answer….I was worried looking for her.”
“Simply, I was sure that I was going to find her there because I was sure nobody was going to take her.”
Once Lopez’s husband checked the cameras, the couple realized someone had taken their beloved pet. The surveillance footage revealed a grim sequence: a pair of suspects had double-parked outside the residence in a gray Subaru Forester and beckoned to Chanel, who initially refused to approach the strangers.
“In the video you can see that they tried to pick her up but she would not get into the car,” Lopez said. “She’s a smart puppy, she knows where her house is.”
The cold-hearted duo ultimately resorted to grabbing the petite gray and tan pooch and carrying her into their vehicle, though she continued to resist them.
Chanel was a neighborhood fixture known for her winning personality. Passerby frequently stopped to admire her, Lopez said, with strangers often commenting, “Oh she’s so pretty.”
“Chanel was a very happy dog, very loving and flirty,” Lopez added. “She was very flirty, she liked to play with people she was familiar with.”
The owner described Chanel as “obedient” and “very playful but not with anyone,” noting that her family never walked Chanel or Leti on leashes around their own property “unless we went out to the park or other places.” That routine may have left Chanel vulnerable on the day she chose not to follow Lopez as usual.
“I don’t know why she didn’t follow me that day,” Lopez said. “Usually she follows me but that day she decided to stay there.”
The petite tan and gray-colored dog is valued at around $1,200, according to police. The NYPD has released photos of both suspects, their gray getaway car, and of Chanel herself in an effort to generate leads.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted via the Crime Stoppers website or on X @NYPDTips.