NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A Manhattan architect was reunited with her cat who was stolen during a carjacking on the Upper West Side last weekend.
Ronnette Riley was driving home on the West Side Highway on Sunday night when her Maserati was bumped from behind by a Mercedes.
She and the apologetic Mercedes driver pulled over on West 95th Street.
“I get out of the car, I look at my bumper—there’s no damage,” Riley said. “I go to look at their bumper. I turn around and see my car take off.”
Two men fled with her car—and her hairless Sphynx cat, Eilee, who was inside the vehicle.
“I’m standing in the middle of Riverside Drive with only my phone in my hand,” Riley said. “I immediately call 911, and the cops come within one minute.”
Riley was terrified about what happened to Eilee. “I was convinced they threw the cat out the window at some point,” she said.
Riley’s assistant, Paige Lundgren, launched a search on social media. And the Animal Care Centers of NYC sent out a "pet AMBER Alert" of sorts, urging people to be on the lookout.
Meanwhile, the owner of Pa'Picar restaurant in Inwood, Manuel Ortega, found a cat curled up against the front of his building. This was clearly no everyday stray, as she was a rare Sphynx wearing a shirt.
Ortega and his wife fed the cat and kept her in a plantain box.
"If you wanted anyone to find your animal, this would be the couple," Riley said.
Through the magic of social media, Riley and Eilee were reunited this week.
Riley’s car was found totaled—crashed into three cars—on the Whitestone Bridge. Two men were arrested by the NYPD.
But most importantly of all, Eilee is safe and sound.