Jersey City Dog That Went Missing With Sitter Has Died: Owner

JERSEY CITY, NJ — The mysterious disappearance of a Jersey City dog and the sitter tasked with taking care of him was brought to a sad close on Wednesday night. Diego Chaves said he received a call that his dog Mac had been taken to the vet and was informed that Mac died.

Chaves hired a woman, who he thought was a dog sitter, to watch his Mac. At first, Chaves was in constant communication with the sitter, who went by the name Micaela — but on the day he arrived to pick Mac up, Monday, Micaela stopped responding.

A community effort to find Mac and the woman consumed local Facebook groups and similar stories from other pet owners flooded in, who had interactions with a suspicious woman who went by the names Micaela or Alyssa.

On Wednesday night, Chaves took to Facebook to update the community, writing:

"At around 6:30 pm we received a phone call that Mac has been brought into the vet. After rushing down to the vet we were informed that Mac had unfortunately passed away. Please do not take this as a sign to harass or threaten the sitter. For now we just ask for time to mourn over the loss of our Mac. Once again I cannot thank everyone enough for all the help and support we've received and we are sorry that we could not update with good news."

Jersey City municipal prosecutor Jake Hudnut wrote in an Instagram comment that police detectives were assigned to the case.