SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The once-stolen dogs Winston, a French Bulldog, and Xena, a Boston Terrier, will give many people a reason to stop to ask for a pet or two. They made their way to Waterfront Park with their owner Braden Frederick on Friday afternoon. The park is where Frederick was reunited with them after a trying six days.
But this moment didn’t come without the help of two women.
“I could not stand the thought of anything bad happening to these two guys, and I had to make sure they were safe,” Paula Luna, who helped in the dogs’ return, said.
“I wouldn’t know what to do if someone took my dog,” Jane Alba, who helped in the dogs’ return, said.
These two ladies told ABC 10news how they each stepped in to help Frederick in his search for his dogs.
As ABC 10News reported, they were inside Frederick’s car when it was stolen last week and were found on Monday along with his car.
“I dropped him off. And then I decided, okay, I’m going to go drop my dogs off. I'll meet up with you in a little bit. I make a right and then another right. That's when I looked over, and I saw his dogs,” Luna said.
Luna said that she parked her car, called Frederick about spotting the suspect with his dogs, and then an almost unbelievable scene happened.
“So, I thought I need to think of a way to distract him,” Luna said.
Luna said that she made up a story to tell the suspect that she was trying to direct a friend to the County Administration and needed help.
“Can you see the address there? So, he leaned in into the address he said, 'oh hey, it looks like 1600, 1500,' whatever it is, and I said, 'no, no, that’s not it. Get closer, get in there,' you know,” Luna said.
She then said that the man moved closer to see the address and was in an area with a lot of bushes and struggled to control the dogs.
“And I thought, ‘OK, hey man, let me take those dogs for you,’ because he was struggling, you know, so I took the leashes. And as soon as I took the leashes, I went like this I look down the sidewalk I didn’t see Braden I like that way I didn’t see him I looked over, and I saw a red light, and I said, OK here we go. And I just bolted. I bolted in that direction. I crossed the street where the Jack in the Box sign is,” Luna said.
Braden and Paula then reconnected and jumped in her car with the dogs. But this story doesn’t end here.
Jane Alba, who had been closely following Frederick’s search on social media.
On Monday, the Air Jordan fan said she knew something was afoot when someone walked past her car.
“And I took a look at his shoes, and I was like, ‘Oh, Jordan’s,’ and it clicked. The yellow, black and white Jordans with the suspect,” Alba said.
She also told ABC 10News there had been tips and reports about the suspect being in the area of Waterfront Park around that time Monday afternoon.
Alba then followed the possible suspect to check and see if it was him. It turned out to be him, and she called the police.
“When I called 911, we were near the Santa Fe trolley station, and he was about to get on a trolley. And I waited on the phone for 15 minutes with the police describing him and letting them know who I think he might be,” Alba said.
And as ABC 10News reported, it led to the suspect's arrest and the return of Frederick’s car.
“The two ladies that really saved the day. You know, they truly are the heroes. I got the word out, but they took all of the action. And it’s good for Paula and Jane to have met too. Kind of go over their sides of the story; just full circle,” Frederick said.
