Sarasota woman continues to search for stolen pets

You may have seen her signs posted on telephone poles around Sarasota advertising a $2,000 or $2,500 reward. Or her weekly posts in thousands of Facebook groups for lost pets, some based as far away as North Dakota.

But Nonna Beetge is determined to find her 10-year-old chihuahua, Elliot, and 7-year-old Chinese crested dog, Charlie, who have been missing since April 4, when Beetge's home was burglarized.

That's why she's tacked flyers featuring the tiny dogs' faces throughout Sarasota, and it's why when Facebook groups try to prevent her from posting, suspecting her posts are spam, she begs the page administrators, saying someone must have seen her dogs. 

“I don’t think it’s possible they’re in Sarasota,” Beetge said. “At least not with someone who wants to be found.”

Beetge had recently moved from Tampa to her parent's home in Sarasota for work and moved into her parents’ house with her chihuahua, Elliot, and Chinese crested, Frankie, when their home was burglarized.

According to Beetge, her parents’ neighbor saw a truck in the driveway of the house next door, but nobody lives in that house. Later that day, the truck was in her parents’ driveway, their home was robbed and Beetge’s dogs were missing.

Passports, electronics and other valuables were also taken from their home. But Beetge says those things are irrelevant compared to the loss of her pets.

“That’s all I want is my dogs back,” Beetge said.

The door was left open after the burglary, but Beetge doesn’t think the dogs ran away. She believes they were taken. She immediately started posting flyers, and she hasn’t stopped looking since.

A report from the Sheriff's department lists Beetge's two dogs among the 13 articles of stolen property. It values the chihuahua, Elliot, at $600; the Chinese crested dog, Frankie, at $2,500. The report also lists a suspect, but the investigation is still ongoing. In the meantime the Beetge has enlisted the help of a pet detective based in Fort Lauderdale, but the pet detective’s involvement is limited in light of the ongoing criminal investigation.

“You can only suspect people,” Beetge said. “There are no solid leads as to who could have done it.”

Last year, she celebrated Elliot's birthday June 21 by taking Elliot and Frankie out to lunch and treated them to "people food." But this year she spent the day missing her pets. She used to spend her whole day with them. She brought them to work and even onto planes when she traveled. Now she spends her whole day looking for them. 

Yet she remains optimistic.

“I have been thinking about getting another dog, but I still have hope I’ll find them,” she said.