BUCKTOWN — A nightmare situation had a happy ending for a divorced couple who share custody of their 13-year-old pug, Seymour, who was sitting in the backseat of a Range Rover when the car was stolen Tuesday night.
Craig Mauri, who had just picked up Seymour from his ex-wife Kristin Mauri, left the engine running in his 2015 brown Range Rover around 6:50 p.m. Tuesday.
As Craig Mauri popped into Wilton Dry Cleaners, 1815 N. Western Ave., to pick up clothing, someone came by and stole his car, with Seymour in the backseat.
Shocked and worried, the Mauris and their friends quickly posted about the lost dog, who is deaf and suffers from arthritis, on several Facebook pages.
"I have no kids, so [Seymour] is my child. I could care less about the car and neither did Craig [care]," Kristin Mauri said.
Katie Carpenter, a Wicker Park resident, said around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, she was coming home from work and saw her neighborhood mailman in the alley between Pierce Avenue and Le Moyne Street, just west of Ashland Avenue.
"He was trying to help a little pug, whom he thought was lost. We later found out [Seymour] is arthritic and deaf," said Carpenter, who took Seymour into her apartment.
Since Seymour had difficulty walking, Carpenter said she assumed he must belong to someone who lives nearby. She left the dog with her roommate and got on her bike.
"I did a bunch of loops [around the block], and talked to a bunch of people, but no one was looking for the dog," Carpenter said.
After getting home, Carpenter later texted a coworker about what to do with the lost dog and It turned out that Carpenter's coworker has seen a post on Facebook about Seymour.
"I think whoever [stole the car] just left him in Wicker Park, where someone would pick him up. It was all thanks to ... the mailman, who took the time to direct Seymour away from traffic. We were thankful to offer our home to this pup," Carpenter said.
Carpenter said she contacted Kristin Mauri around 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, almost four hours after Seymour disappeared.
Kristin Mauri said she felt "absolute relief" after hearing that Seymour was found.
"It was like a miracle," Mauri said of the reunion with Seymour, whom she and her ex bought in 2003 and have been amicably sharing custody of for the past four years.
Kristin Mauri said her ex's car was found around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday parked on the street in the 3900 block of West Madison Street in Garfield Park, about 18 hours after it was stolen.
"I think we are both amazed that the car was found," she said.
The interior of the Range Rover was "ransacked" and the windows were left open despite the rain, but the car is driveable, Kristin Mauri said.
And given the emotional roller coaster that the past day has been, Thanksgiving will be extra special for Kristin Mauri.
"I believe there are good people in the world now, which I was questioning after this election cycle, people like Katie and Mario [the mailman]," she said.
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