Owner Of Long-Lost Cat Suspicious Of Circumstances Of His Return

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — One of the two Highland Park residents who turned in a long-lost cat to a Northbrook animal shelter last month had been in contact with its owner shortly after the cat was reported missing last year.

Sammy, a 3-year-old indoor and outdoor cat adopted from Iran, went missing from the Highland Park home of Rachel Evans on July 7, 2020. Shortly thereafter, Evans posted on social media about the missing cat, who she said is well known in her neighborhood around Wolters Field, and offered a $500 reward for his return.

"One of my neighbors mentioned that a girl on a bicycle had stopped by her house and showed her a picture of a cat and asked if she knew the cat. This was before the neighbor had found out that Sammy was missing," Evans told Patch.

"Sammy's smart. He knows where his house is, so it's not that Sammy's lost, it's that somebody took him," she said. "And I knew this from the start."

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Evans said she identified the bicyclist asking about a photo of her cat as Skye Samson and later visited to a local grocery store where Samson worked to ask about Sammy.

"Sorry to bother you at work," Evans said in an email to Samson after their encounter. "Can you please let me know if this is the cat you saw in your neighborhood? If you can tell me which streets you live by, I am happy to come by and look for him."

Samson replied later that night, suggesting, falsely, that allowing domesticated cats outside was against the law in Highland Park, according to a copy of the email Evans provided to police.

I believe I did see your cat many weeks ago running across Park Ave West, towards the golf course. He seemed to be chasing a squirrel, and was lucky to have not been hit by a car. It was a close call.

A few days later, I saw a neighbor of yours who says she sees your cat often running around the neighborhood, during all seasons. Winter, spring, summer and fall. If she is accurate, than I am surprised that something hasn’t happened to your cat by now.

As I’m sure you are aware, it is illegal in HP to let house cats run loose in the streets and neighborhoods.

If you have any other pets, I hope you will be extra careful, to make sure you as the owner are in control of them, to keep them safe.

Four weeks after Sammy went missing, Evans made another social media post.

"My life is not the same without him. I am heartbroken and cry every day for him. I am haunted by nightmares that he is lost and trying to find his way home," she said. "He was so happy being indoor/outdoor (his choice, not mine), and he was home every day. He is microchipped and knows his neighborhood well. I can’t fathom that someone has taken him."

Evans also referenced her encounter with Samson in the post.

"I am very grateful for my neighbors’ support in trying to find him," she said. "(All except one, who tried to make me feel like a bad parent when she has no idea what [or] who Sammy is or who I am.)"

Nine months after sending Evans the email, Samson and her companion Ben Davis dropped Sammy off at the Heartland Animal Shelter in Northbrook, according to a police report.

Though they did not give their names, a staff member at the shelter identified the two local high school graduates from the photo (below) posted to social media, police said.

Sammy was identified via microchip soon after arriving at the shelter and reunited with Evans on April 24.

"This speaks to the positive impact a simple microchip can have on the lives of animals," the shelter posted on social media, along with a video of Sammy's reunion with his owner, "and the people who love them!"

Neither Samson nor Davis replied to a request for an interview for this article about the circumstance leading up to the cat's return.

They also did not respond to an officer's efforts to contact them, according to a police report obtained by Patch.

No criminal charges, municipal citations or civil complaints have yet been filed in connection with the cat's nearly 10-month sojourn away from his owner.

After filing a theft report with the Highland Park Police Department last month, Evans on Thursday signed a sworn witness statement.

"I immediately went to pick him up, and when I arrived, [shelter staff] told me that 2 'kids' from Highland Park dropped him off, saying they 'found' him. I was ecstatic to be reunited with Sammy," Evans said in the statement, explaining why she sent staff a photo of Samson and Davis and later filed a police report.

"I kept wondering why Sammy would have been brought to a shelter that is 10 miles away in Northbrook by two kids from Highland Park, when there are vets and another shelter (Orphans of the Storm) much closer by."