'I knew she was out there': Family reunited with stolen dog 6 months later

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After six months, the Drury family is whole again.

"We felt like we had lost family members and to some people, they're just a dog but to us, they're part of us, they're part of the Drurys," Sonja Drury said.

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Drury said she let her Frenchies, Espresso and Nutella, out in the yard and 10 minutes later, they were gone.

"Just were gone. Couldn't find him. The whole neighborhood was looking," Drury said. "The next morning, I got a phone call."

The caller said he had found her dog, Nutella, but not Espresso. She met with him and another woman and got the dog back.

"I always felt like they knew where Espresso was because three times in our conversation, that morning, and later on that afternoon, and once in the parking lot he said ‘dogs,' Dury said.

But six long, heartbreaking months would go by, and no Espresso -- until the week before Thanksgiving.

They got Espresso back six months later.

Drury said she can't say how they got her back, because of an active investigation.

Police confirmed that two people have been arrested in connection with the case, and they were charged with larceny of a dog.

Drury said they're the same people who said they found Nutella six months prior.

"She was not in great shape. Her ribs were showing," Drury said about Espresso. "I think that's the worst part. They didn't take care of her."

Espresso is getting healthier.

"It really is a blessing and nothing short of a miracle that she's back home because the odds were stacked against us, and it was really like trying to find a needle in a haystack," Drury said. "I refused to give up on finding her because I knew she was out there."

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Cox Media Group