A woman’s terrifying ordeal when her Maserati Ghibli was carjacked in Manhattan got a whole heap scarier when she realized her cat was still in the Italian sports car. Cat-napping proved a step too far for the carjackers, however, and the hairless cat is back with its worried owner.
Ronnette Riley, a Manhattan architect, was driving in Manhattan on Sunday March 16 when her Maserati Ghibli was rear-ended by a Mercedes SUV on the West Side Highway. Riley was out of the car and exchanging details with the driver when someone leapt into her Maserati and drove off with it, reports CBS News.
The car wasn’t the only beloved item that was gone in the incident, however, as Riley’s hairless cat was in the car when it was taken.
Car thieves-turned cat-nappers
The car was tracked by police to the Whitestone Bridge where it was found crashed, and an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old were taken into custody in relation to the heist. The hairless cat, called Eilee, was not recovered in the car, as CBS News adds:
“Then I was like, now what?” Riley said. “I was worried they might have thrown her out of the car.”
The cat hadn’t been launched from the car, thankfully, but had been dumped “alone in the cold” adds CBS News. Riley didn’t know this, however, and set about putting up missing posters and checking with animal rescue centers on Monday morning.
Found on Facebook
It didn’t take long after Riley started posting about her missing cat for the calls to start coming in, and “within hours” Eilee the cat had been found, reports ABC News. The cat was found outside the Pa’Picar restaurant in Inwood, NY, as the site adds: .
“The cat had like a t-shirt, like a striped t-shirt. Was a hairless cat with two different color eyes. Was a very weird cat,” said restaurant owner Manuel Ortega, “So I go outside to ask the people, like you don’t see nobody with a hairless cat with t-shirt? And the people started talking to me like what are you talking about, a hairless cat with a t-shirt on?”
Ortega headed online to post about the cat he’d found, and soon enough was connected with Riley to reunite her with her favorite feline. When it comes to her car, however, Riley was less fortunate and the Maserati was reportedly totaled following the crash.
