French Bulldog Taken From East Bay Neighborhood Found in Arizona, Reunited With Family

Bruno is back home.

The 1-year-old French bulldog, who was taken from his San Lorenzo neighborhood roughly two weeks ago, has been reunited with his family after being found in Arizona, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday. Two suspects were taken into custody.

"I was crying since the moment that he left and I was crying when we got him back," Denise Esparza said after reuniting with her beloved Bruno. "It was just so amazing to know that everybody put in so much work to get him back and he is so loved."

Thanks to video surveillance footage and a partial license plate number, authorities were able to obtain a grand theft warrant for one of the two suspects seen in video footage during the theft, according to the sheriff's office.

The case took detectives from San Lorenzo to Pomona in Los Angeles County and then to Willcox, Arizona. Bruno, who is valued at $10,000, was spotted in the backseat of one of the suspect's vehicles during a traffic stop about 30 miles from the New Mexico border, the sheriff's office said. The two suspects, identified as Saveya Marbury and Uriah Byrd, were arrested.

See more

The sheriff's office said its detectives flew to Tucson, Arizona, where they met with a Willcox detective and a firefighter who volunteered to drive roughly two hours to hand Bruno over to the detectives.

A video shared by the sheriff's department showed an exuberant Bruno jumping on his family during their reunion back in the Bay Area.

Bruno escaped from the family's home by digging a hole underneath their fence. Authorities said security footage showed the two suspects working to grab the dog in the parking lot of the family's apartment complex. They then drove away with the pup, but cameras caught their license plate number.

"It's like somebody is kidnapping our child," Esparza said. "It's not like if they're just taking a valuable away from us. It's our kid. So it makes me more sad than mad."

Days after seeing a poster for Bruno, the suspects actually called the family, demanding the dog's microchip information.

But it was the speeding stop in Arizona that brought the search for Bruno to a close. Investigators said it was previous traffic tickets in Southern California and one of the suspect's social media showing the same shoes worn during the theft that linked the suspects to the crime.

Investigators also said this wasn't their only crime.

"One of the people involved in this appears to be a career criminal," Alameda County Sheriff's Office Lt. Ray Kelly said. "It appears they go throughout multistate jurisdictions and they look for criminal opportunities, like this dog."

Both suspects are now facing felony grand theft charges.