Dog gone missing in Louisiana hurricane found 5 years later — owner believes late husband guided him home
Most people without pets would perhaps never understand the love owners have for their four-legged babies. For pet parents, they aren't just animals they own but an integral part of their family. Just like anyone wants their family members to be beside them at all times, pet owners expect just that for their babies. Similarly, for Debbie LaFleur, her 6-year-old dog, Kingston, was her entire universe. However, LaFleur's nightmare turned into reality when her dog went missing in a devastating hurricane in southwestern Louisiana in 2020. And, after 5 years, when she had lost all hope of reuniting with Kingston, she received an email informing LaFleur about her missing dog, USA Today reported.
LaFleur and her husband, Joseph, had had Kingston for 6 years before the dog went missing in the deadly hurricane. When the couple didn't find their beloved dog anywhere, they searched for him around the whole neighborhood. They even sought help online, and people on Facebook, too, tried helping them in locating Kingston. However, nothing helped, and LaFleur had to accept that she was never going to see her dog again. But fate had different plans, as 5 years after that unfortunate incident, the woman received an email from GPS tracking service PetLink. The email informed her that they had found LaFleur's dog at a college fraternity, around 300 miles away in another state.
"We pulled up to the house, and all the guys were outside. I was at the end of the walkway, and he was at the house, and I just said, 'Kingston, come to Mommy.' And he just took off running, which made my heart burst even more. It was wonderful, wonderful to see him," LaFleur shared with the outlet. Though Kingston returned to his rightful home, and everything was honky-dory once again, no one knows to date where the poor dog spent nearly half a decade. However, the Kappa Sigma house at the University of Southern Mississippi was where Kingston had spent his final days before returning to LaFleur.
Neal Rachal, Kappa Sigma president, shared that he found the dog (he named Benji) outside the frat house and immediately began searching for his owner. Later, when John Christopher, Fraternity Vice President, took Kingston to the vet, he found that the dog was microchipped. "I walk in the house, and John said, 'He's Kingston,' and I was like, 'What are you talking about, dude?' And he was like, 'No, Benji is Kingston. He's from Lake Charles, Louisiana, and he's been missing for five years, years,'" Rachal revealed.
LaFleur's husband, Joseph, who was extremely close to Kingston, sadly passed away in a tragic accident in 2022. Although he could never meet his beloved dog again, LaFleur believed that it was her late husband who reunited her with Kingston. "When my husband would have his plate of food, he had to give Kingston a plate of food with the exact same thing. When he went to McDonald's, he had to get Kingston nuggets. He slept on my husband every night, and he wouldn't come to me unless my husband was going to work, and then he would snuggle with me ...Kingston was his best friend," she revealed.
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