Jennifer Carl took care of Willow for 11 years and made every effort to track down her beloved.
Jennifer Carl came out of the gas station restroom and was dumbfounded by what she saw. The Jeep Cherokee she had rented was gone. “I was in a panic,” the gal recounted of the moment she realized the car had been stolen, along with her beloved cat, Willow.
Everything was in the rental car: her computer, her phone, her clothes, her best friend, the cat. Jennifer screamed and cried, but it couldn’t help. She was on her way back to Washington from New Jersey, where she was visiting her mother. F
luffy Willow, who weighed more than 8 pounds, was placed in her pink carrier and made the trip with her owner.
They were on their way back to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 7 when Jennifer stopped briefly at a gas station to use the restroom. She parked, put on her mask and jumped out without taking anything, not even her coat. Jennifer left the car with the engine running and pressed the key fob to lock it.
Only the car didn’t lock. And within minutes, someone had stolen it. According to the Washingtonpost, Jennifer called the police, and friendly people helped her back to her mother’s house.
The girl bought a new phone, computer and clothes, but that couldn’t bring back Willow, who had been by her side for 11 years – since she was rescued from a tree in Jersey City.
“At first I felt hopeless, but my message asking for help finding the cat went viral on Facebook. Then I started posting on social media.
The first thing the assigned pet sitter recommended she do was launch a vigorous online campaign. Nancy Mello, 39, is known as a psychic, clairvoyant and fortune teller – and specializes in finding pets. “I recently found out I’m good at reading animals,” the Connecticut resident said.
With Mello’s help, the gal posted appeals on the Internet asking people in New Jersey to be on the lookout for the car and cat. A local newspaper and television station published her story, and a TikTok video received tens of thousands of views.
People in New Jersey began to help, with volunteers putting out flyers and helping to find Willow. Five days after the theft, police found an abandoned rental car in a neighborhood near Newark. There was no sign of Willow or her carrier.
The next day, a man called police to report that some of Jennifer’s belongings had been left in the yard, along with a bright pink empty carrier. Mello says she tried to “tell” the cat to get out of the house she was in. She says Willow complained about the kibble her captors were giving her. “Just go outside, Willow.
Make sure you’re seen outside and Jen will find you,” Nancy quoted her “setup.” Jennifer, meanwhile, recruited volunteers. On Jan. 14, a week after Willow was stolen, the gal gathered a group and they set up a trap in the area where the carrier was found, using the cat’s favorite sardines and salmon.
“Miraculously, within an hour, she was spotted by a volunteer in someone’s backyard. She’s hard to miss, she’s big,” Jennifer recalls. She asked the homeowners if she could go into the backyard and call for the cat.
“After we were quiet for a while, she ran back into the backyard.” When Willow stumbled into the gurney, Jennifer caught her and penned her there.
She smelled my hand, meowed recognizably, and started purring almost immediately. I sat with her for another half hour until she felt safe and let me pick her up and take her home.”
Police still have not found the car’s abductor, although they have seized footage from the gas station’s cameras. Jennifer and her cat are back in Washington and have no plans to travel anywhere anytime soon.
“I’m still overwhelmed by all the support I’ve received. I think people really need a story like this to show that we can still work together as a community to do some good,” Jennifer says.
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