HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM/Gray News) – A Louisiana woman was reunited with her beloved pet Yorkie who was missing for five years. But she never could’ve guessed where her beloved pet would turn up.
In a reunion of a lifetime, Debbie LaFleur was reunited with her Yorkshire terrier, Kingston.
“Never,” LaFleur said. “I never thought I’d see him again.”.
Kingston went missing from Lake Charles, Louisiana, after Hurricane Laura in 2020.
This week, he turned up 300 miles away from home, on the back porch of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity House on the University of Southern Mississippi campus.
“I walk outside, and there’s just this Yorkie sitting there in a red T-shirt,” said fraternity president Neal Rachal.
Rachal and his fraternity brothers took the dog in and started calling him “Benji.”
“The next day, our vice president went and got (the dog’s) chip checked, and that’s when we found out that his name was actually Kingston, not Benji,” said Rachal. “And that he had been missing for five years.”
LaFleur said she received an email notifying her that her missing pet had been found.
“Before I could call him, he called me,” said LaFleur. “My heart just started pounding, and I told my boss, ‘I found Kingston, I found Kingston,’ and we both just started yelling and screaming.”
LaFleur and her son made the four-hour trip up to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to bring Kingston back to Louisiana.
“As soon as she got out the car and he saw her, we’ve never seen Benji run like that,” said Rachal. “And he sprinted with his ears perked up. It was just awesome to see.”
LaFleur said the only thing that could’ve made this moment better is if her husband, Joe, had gotten to be there, too.
“They were best friends,” said LaFleur. “I mean they were like two peas in a pod… The only down part is that my husband is gone now, but he probably made this happen.”
And Kingston left Hattiesburg an honorary fraternity brother.
“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 said she’ll always be grateful to the members of Kappa Sig.
“Wonderful, wonderful guys,” said LaFleur. “I mean, 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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