“I have my shadow back,” the Farmington Hills man said, referring to his beloved Susie, his 7-year-old Golden Retriever who has been missing for four months.
The Solimans were called Friday afternoon by the Farmington Hills Police Department, just after Susie was dropped off at the station.
Frank and Elvira Soliman rushed there, with hopes that the dog was indeed Susie.
Farmington Hills police Chief Chuck Nebus said he knew right away they had the right dog.
“You could see the dog's ears perk up when she heard their voices,” he said. “It was very cute and very touching.”
Frank Soliman, 76, said he was immediately greeted by his long-lost friend.
“Susie could not stop licking me,” he said. “She's my shadow. I have my shadow back. We've raised this dog since she was two weeks old.”
Susie disappeared in February, while Elvira and son Eric were in Germany and Frank was at home, ill and being cared for by a home nurse.
That nurse determined that Frank Soliman needed to be hospitalized and asked if she could put Susie in a boarding kennel, since no one would be home to care for her.
Instead, what she told police, was that she dumped the dog off at the Michigan Humane Society (saying she pushed the dog through the open door and ran off so that she supposedly wouldn't have to pay a fee to leave the dog). Police note, however, that the MHS Westland center has no record of the dog being dropped off there.
Henry Ford Home Health Care nurse Jennifer Stombaugh now faces Misdemeanor larceny charges in the incident and is due for a trial July 9 in 47th District Court. She remains employed with Henry Ford, according to a spokesman.
One day after the Farmington Observer published a story about Susie's disappearance, the dog was dropped off at the police station. Local television stations picked up on the story, expanding the publicity.
Police said they cannot reveal who dropped her off, or the circumstances surrounding her disappearance.
Regardless, the Solimans are happy to be reunited with their Susie.
“We are so thankful to you and to the police,” Elvira Soliman said. “I'll keep that (Farmington Observer) paper forever.”
Susie appears to be in good health and is still wearing her collar and bell.
“We are on cloud nine,” Elvira Soliman said. “I look at Susie and I think, ‘You're really here!'”
(Hometown Life - June 8, 2012)
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