Bizarre circumstances surround disappearance of a Mountain Island Lake family’s dogs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - A family that lives on Mountain Island Lake says a strange set of circumstances surround the disappearance of their two French Bulldogs earlier this week.

The Drury family says they let their two dogs, Espresso and Nutella, out Monday afternoon as they always do. The family has an electrical fence around the property.

“Even if we left them out for hours, they stay just right around the area,” said Ray Drury.

“They were not in the yard, they just vanished,” said Sonja Drury.

The family immediately began searching and got support from the community with hundreds of shares on Facebook.

According to a CMPD Police report filed by the family, they say their dogs were stolen.

“Somebody picked them up. Now, whether they picked them up because they thought they were lost, maybe? Whether they thought that, ‘hey these are purebred French Bulldogs and might be worth money?,'” said Drury.

This is where the story takes a bizarre turn.

On Tuesday, one of the dogs was returned.

“We received a phone call from a non-ID number and they were asking me questions about the brown dog,” said Sonja Drury. “He said that he had found her on an island, the island on Mountain Island Lake. That is, by boat, 3 miles from our home. There is no way of getting to that island except by boat.”

The person who called them asking about one of their dogs met the family at a nearby gas station. Nutella’s electric collar had been removed.

“We are very grateful for the couple that returned Nutella,” said Sonja Drury.

However, Espresso is still missing. The family is offering a reward for the safe return and will not ask questions.

“Maybe the reward is better than trying to sell it to somebody and getting in trouble,” said Ray Drury.

The family has hired a private company, Epic Pet Recovery, to help in the efforts to find Espresso. They will bring out hounds on Saturday to boat out to the island to look for clues.

“She is family. We just want her home. We love her and she loves us,” said Sonja Drury.

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