A dog that vanished from a Nebraska yard in 2021 has been found alive behind a truck stop in Indiana – 642 miles away and five years later.
Inmaculada Jackman never stopped looking for her dog, Chong, after he escaped her Lincoln home five years ago. She kept driving past her old neighborhood, hoping to spot him, but had near-enough given up all hope.
“I still looked for him,” Inmaculada said. “We still went to our old neighborhood and drove around and looked to see if we could see anyone walking him or if he was running around somewhere.”
Earlier this month, staff at an animal shelter in Indiana posted about a dog they’d taken in from behind a truck stop, roughly 642 miles from Lincoln. A microchip, placed on Chong by someone in Inmaculada’s hometown not long after he first went missing, was the only clue that led them back to Nebraska.
A friend spotted the post and sent it to Inmaculada. “I just couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Inmaculada called the shelter right away. Staff told her they were hoping the people who’d had Chong since he first went missing wouldn’t come forward to claim him first.
After three days, Chong was cleared to return to his original family. Inmaculada made the trip to Indiana – and she wasn’t the only family member along for the ride.
The family is back home in Lincoln now, dogs and all.
“Never lose hope,” Inmaculada said. “It’s been five years and we found him.”
