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LAKELAND, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - After a car crash in Osceola County over the weekend, a woman who was hurt says a witness offered to take care of her puppies at the scene and then disappeared.
Marritsa Melendez, from Connecticut, was visiting family in Central Florida, when the accident happened near State Road 60 and Peavine Road.
“All I saw was this tractor-trailer heading toward our direction. My sister took the wheel and swung to the left, and after that, that’s all I remember,” Melendez explained.
Next thing, she says she was on the ground after someone pulled her out of the wreck.
“A woman approached me and she said, ‘Don’t worry. I have your puppies. They’re fine. I have them, I’ll call.’ And she just walked away from me – I don’t know who she was,” Melendez said.
Melendez was taken to the hospital in bad shape. Then she says she got the news that not everyone made it out of the crash alive.
“For some reason you know, you have a feeling it could be someone in your vehicle, so I figured it could be my dad,” she said.
Now she’s dealing with the loss of her father and trying to track down her pets, who she says she considers family. The shih-poo puppies are just 16 weeks old, named Porsha and Mojo. Melendez says she thought the mystery woman seemed honest, but she doesn’t understand why she hasn’t gotten in touch.
“She was there at the scene of the accident. She could have contacted law enforcement there and find anything out about what happened or where I would be or how she can connect with me,” Melendez said.
She’s hoping a public plea will finally lead to a reunion.
“I just want them back. I just want them back and to go home,” she said.
Melendez says the woman may have given her a name, but she doesn’t remember it. She says the dogs were wearing clothes and harnesses, but didn’t have on tags.