Dog returned to mother of Philadelphia Eagles player after theft from Port Richmond Target
Last month, the mother of Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Kelee Ringo had her dog stolen from a Target in the city's Port Richmond neighborhood.
But on Monday night, Tralee Hale-Ringo's shih tzu, Mali, was returned to her at the Philadelphia Police Department's 24th and 25th District precinct.
"She's back, oh my God," Tralee Hale-Ringo said. "I'm so excited to have my daughter back. She's just always with me. There's never been this much time that she's not been with me. And when she came out of the back she was just shaking like she couldn't get her feet together. She just couldn't get down fast enough to get into my arms."
In December, security footage released by police showed Mali leaving the store followed by a group of four people.
Hale-Ringo said that a woman — who was among the four people in the surveillance video at the Target on the night her dog was stolen — intended to keep Mali. She lives in New Jersey and kept frequenting the same Wawa until she saw herself in the surveillance video on TV.
"An employee of Wawa that had seen her in advertising about her new dog, and so right away that employee called in and that just started the ball rolling in that direction," Hale-Ringo said. "There were three really accurate, credible leads that came through right away as soon as it made the news the first time."
Hale-Ringo's bond with Mali was cemented because she said the dog helped her fight breast cancer.
"She's just again been my daughter, getting me through my breast cancer," she said. "Now she's been with us as my one and only son has come up here and made it onto the Eagles. She's just our family."