MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A dog stolen in Arizona was found on the side of a road in Loxley.

Loxley Police said the Australian Shepherd was reported missing from Phoenix in 2023 and was discovered dead off County Road 68 last Thursday.

“At that point, that’s when they had mentioned that they had him and it wasn’t in the way that we had expected,” said the dog’s owner Aubrey Garcia. “They had said that he had been found tied up on the side of a dirt road, and he had his mouth bound, and he was deceased.”

It was the worst news possible for Aubrey Garcia. A phone call from 1700 miles away delivered devastation. The Phoenix, Arizona woman heard what happened to Kiyo, her missing Australian Shepherd from a Loxley Police officer. The details were very disturbing.

Investigators said Kiyo had noticeable trauma to his body and a rope tied around his mouth.

“It’s like 1700 miles straight down the I-10,” said Garcia. “I mean when I looked it up, I was like Loxley…I never heard of Loxley, Alabama.”

Garcia said what happened to Kiyo was her worst nightmare after searching for him for almost two years. She said she will never forget the day he disappeared from their backyard.

“I went out into the backyard after cleaning out his box and realizing that only two of my dogs were home and panic set in very, very quickly,” she said.

Garcia said her family frantically searched the neighborhood for hours, but it wasn’t until a few days later when someone in the area reported seeing what looked to be Kiyo taken by someone in a black SUV. She said ring camera footage didn’t give them the answer they were looking for.

“We just couldn’t get a clear shot of the vehicle at the time because it was it was 10:30 at night at this point four-door black car couldn’t make out make a model,” she said. “All they could all they could see is that it was in a really beat-up condition and that’s really what we had to go off of.”

Loxley Police said a witness reported seeing a four door sedan in the area where Kiyo was found on Thursday. While detectives continue investigating, Garcia has a message for the person responsible for Kiyo’s death.

“You deserve everything, everything that’s going to happen if you’re caught because you had every opportunity for you to do the right thing and return him when we gave so many outlets to return him anonymously,” she said. “You could’ve left him to the side of that dirt road without his mouth being bound and maybe he would’ve made it home.”

Garcia said Kiyo’s remains will be cremated and sent back to Phoenix. Loxley Police are asking anyone with any information about what happened to Kiyo to come forward.

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