Police Seek Information on Disappearance of Elderly D.C. Man's Beloved Dog

Sparky, a beloved mixed-breed dog, was stolen Tuesday, and his owner, Charles E. Boyd, a 92-year-old Columbia Heights resident, said last night that he is "still having a difficult time."

Sparky is a Shih Tzu-poodle mix that Boyd said he raised "from a pup." Sparky is "like his son," said Boyd's niece, Sandra Keys, who lives with him.

Without Sparky, who is about 5 or 6 years old, she doubt that her nonagenarian uncle would have "made it so long," she said.

And now Sparky is gone, and the D.C. police department has asked for the public's help in finding him.

Keys said a friend was walking Sparky on Tuesday evening and was climbing the steps to return to the family's house on 11th Street NW when he noticed that Sparky was not accompanying him.

"The next thing we knew," Keys said, "the dog was gone." She spotted two youths, perhaps 12 to 14 years old, according to police, about a block away, running. They seemed to have had a dog with them. Then, she said, she realized that the dog must have been Sparky. By the time the friend reached the corner, the youths were gone, she said.

She said her uncle, who is retired after working as a security guard at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, "doesn't want to eat" and only "half-sleeps." Instead, she said, he stands in front of their house "with a dazed look," searching for a sign of Sparky.

She said everyone in the neighborhood is also looking. Police asked anyone with information about the dog to call 202-727-9099.

Boyd said he is "still hoping" that Sparky will be returned.