A heartwarming reunion has occurred after a Louisiana woman was reconnected with her missing Yorkshire Terrier, Kingston, who had been lost for five years.
Debbie LaFleur never imagined that she would ever see her beloved dog again after Kingston disappeared in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura in 2020. But this week, in an unexpected twist, Kingston turned up 300 miles away from his home on the back porch of a fraternity house at the University of Southern Mississippi.
“I never thought I’d see him again,” LaFleur said, reflecting on the long years of uncertainty.
It was fraternity president Neal Rachal who first encountered the dog sitting on the porch, wearing a red T-shirt. “I walk outside, and there’s just this Yorkie sitting there in a red T-shirt,” Rachal recalled. His fraternity brothers took the dog in and affectionately named him “Benji.”
However, the next day, they had the dog’s microchip checked, revealing that his real name was Kingston, and that he had been missing for five years.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Rachal said. “We didn’t expect that connection at all.”
LaFleur was immediately notified through an email that Kingston had been found. “Before I could call him, he called me,” LaFleur recalled. “My heart just started pounding, and I told my boss, ‘I found Kingston, I found Kingston,’ and we both just started yelling and screaming.”
Without hesitation, LaFleur and her son made the four-hour drive from Louisiana to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to reunite with Kingston. The moment was nothing short of emotional. “As soon as she got out of the car and he saw her, we’ve never seen Benji run like that,” Rachal said. “He sprinted with his ears perked up. It was just awesome to see.”
LaFleur expressed how bittersweet the moment was, as her late husband, Joe, had been Kingston’s best friend. “They were like two peas in a pod,” LaFleur shared. “The only down part is that my husband is gone now, but he probably made this happen.”
Kingston’s reunion also earned him honorary membership in the Kappa Sigma fraternity. “He’s like a member of the chapter right now,” Rachal said. “He’s done everything with us for the past week, and so, through our eyes at least, he is a Kappa Sig.”
LaFleur expressed immense gratitude toward the fraternity members for their kindness and efforts to reunite her with her pet. “Wonderful, wonderful guys,” LaFleur said. “Everybody wouldn’t have done that, taken the time out to find who the owner was. So happy to have my baby back.”
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