A woman in Manhattan was rear-ended and carjacked, and though her luxury sports car was stolen in an instant, it was the cat inside the car that caused her the most distress.
Ronette Riley had a deep attachment to her Maserati. “It had lime green calibers, lime green stitching – it was my dream car. I worked really hard my whole life for it,” she shared. “I love hearing its engine purr and enjoy the speed.”
“I’ve had it at 170,” she added, showing her passion for driving fast.
However, at around 11 p.m. on Sunday, Riley’s night took a turn when she was rear-ended by a black Mercedes Benz on the West Side Highway near 95th Street. “It was a couple — couldn’t have been nicer. He said he was on his phone and didn’t realize what happened. They had the whole story down,” Riley explained.
While she was distracted by the situation, a thief jumped into her Maserati and sped off — with her cat, Eilee, still inside.
“I was more worried about the cat than anything else,” Riley admitted. “They drove away so quickly, but the cops were there so fast.”
Riley said the police arrived within a minute and knew immediately how to track her vehicle. Officers managed to corner the suspects on the Whitestone Bridge, where they crashed. Two men, aged 18 and 20, were arrested, but Eilee was still missing.
“I just wanted to help her as much as I could,” said Riley’s assistant, Paige Lundgren.
The following morning, Lundgren put out missing flyers on social media and visited animal rescue centers. Within hours, they found Eilee on Facebook at the Pa’Picar restaurant in Inwood.
The restaurant owner, Manuel Ortega, immediately recognized that the cat was no stray. “The cat had a t-shirt on, like a striped t-shirt. It was a hairless cat with two different-colored eyes. It was a very unique cat,” Ortega said. “So I went outside to ask the people if they’d seen anyone with a hairless cat in a t-shirt. They didn’t understand what I was talking about.”
Unconvinced, Ortega posted about the cat on social media, hoping to find its owner.
Despite some offers of money, Ortega didn’t feel it was right to accept. “They offered me money, but I didn’t think it was the right thing to do,” he said.
Though Riley was disappointed about the loss of her Maserati, she was relieved and grateful to be reunited with her beloved cat.
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