A pair of thieves took a Yorkshire terrier, Avery, from her front yard in the DC area. Avery's owner Raquel Witherspoon was devastated. She got the police involved and posted missing dog posters around the neighborhood and the story was covered on local news, but there were no leads on what happened to Avery.
Not long after the posters went up, Witherspoon started getting threatening text messages and someone sent her a video of what appeared to be Avery in a cage. The texter demanded $12-hundred for her to get her pup back. But then she got a text from a man offering to help. Iraq war veteran Richard Machamer saw the story on the news and reached out to Witherspoon saying he could help her find her dog, if she wanted.
Machamer connected with Witherspoon and got all the information she had about the suspected dognappers. He put the phone number that Witherspoon had gotten the threat from in his phone and soon Instagram recommended that he follow a profile on social media connected to that phone number. The veteran used that account to run down a suspect and then he delivered that info to the police. The police were able to act on Machamer’s tip and ended up arresting 2 16 year old boys. Richard and the police were able to return Avery to his grateful owner.