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Volunteers search for dog stolen from Arizona grooming salon

Posted at 6:33 PM, Mar 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-04 18:33:09-05

The search continues for “BeBe,” a 3-pound pup stolen from a Mesa, Arizona, grooming salon.

BeBe’s owner Chrissy Willingham said she dropped her off for a haircut at Animal Clipper on Feb. 24 and when she returned to pick her up, nobody could explain how she vanished.

Thursday, Mesa police arrested Izabella Santa Bujanda and her boyfriend Anthony Marc Barrera, but the dog is still missing.

Bujanda worked as a grooming assistant at Animal Clipper near Higley and Brown. According to detectives, she confessed to taking a customer’s dog by hiding it in a towel and handing the dog off to her boyfriend who was waiting in a car behind the business.

Saturday, just one week after Bebe vanished, 20 volunteers from Animal Lovers of Chandler spent two hours Saturday passing out flyers to drivers and people who live near Power and Thomas roads in Mesa.

That’s the area where Barrera told police he abandoned the pup.

According to court paperwork, Barrera received a text from his girlfriend Tuesday to “set the dog free.” He apparently chose the Las Sendas community because “he believed it was a good area and the dog would be taken care of.”

Willingham was there and overwhelmed with emotions.

“I’m grateful for all of the volunteers that has come out here to help me,” said Willingham.

She’s glad the suspects were arrested.

“Definitely very angry. She’s our baby. We miss her. They not only hurt me and my family, they hurt the Castillos, Animal Clippers, their entire family and their business,” said Willingham.

Willingham expressed if she finds BeBe, they will continue to be Animal Clipper customers.

“Because I know the owners. It was no fault of theirs. You can’t define a business or business owners by one individual,” she said.

Willingham and more volunteers will be near Thomas and Power roads in Mesa again to look for BeBe and pass out flyers Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon.