Dog Who Went Missing During a Hurricane 5 Years Ago Reappears at Frat House 300 Miles from Home

A Louisiana woman has been reunited with her dog, five years after a hurricane led her to believe they would never see each other again. 

Debbie LaFleur of Lake Charles told USA Today that her Yorkshire Terrier, named Kingston, turned up at a frat house at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss. several years after his disappearance. 

“We had had Kingston for six years by this time. He was part of our lives. He was our baby,” LaFleur said of the dog.

In August 2020, Hurricane Laura changed everything.

Though their home was still standing in the aftermath, when she returned, she found a broken window and Kingston was gone.

“And so we went around the whole neighborhood. Everybody on Facebook was trying to help us locate him, but it was like, ‘We’re not gonna get him back,’ ” she told USA Today.

Despite their efforts, LaFleur and her husband never saw Kingston again. After five years, they accepted that they never would — until she got an email from GPS tracking service PetLink in March.

After receiving the message, she arranged to make the four-hour drive to the Kappa Sigma house to retrieve her now 11-year-old dog, who was perfectly healthy. 

Video shared by USA Today showed Kingston running down a pathway straight into LaFleur’s arms as she picked him up and embraced him. 

“We pulled up to the house and all the guys were outside,” LaFleur said. “I was at the end of the walkway, and he was at the house, and I just said, ‘Kingston, come to Mommy,’ and he just took off running, which made my heart burst even more. It was wonderful, wonderful to see him.”

Kingston has returned to Lake Charles with his family, plus a new brother — a 3-year-old Shih Tzu named Cooper.

Kappa Sigma President Neal Rachal told USA Today that while their organization cannot account for Kingston’s whereabouts for the past five years, the Yorkie was found outside the frat house’s front door the morning of March 30.

Kingston lived at the house for about a week where he became an honorary Kappa Sigma member named “Benji.”

Rachal said Kappa Sigma Vice President John Christopher is the one responsible for learning Kingston was microchipped thanks to a trip to the vet.

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“I walk in the house and John said, ‘He’s Kingston,’ and I was like, “What are you talking about, dude?'” Rachal recalled. “And he was like, ‘No, Benji is Kingston. He’s from Lake Charles, Louisiana, and he’s been missing for five years.’ ”

According to Rachal, the frat brothers had a great time with “Benji,” taking him to softball games and Walmart until LaFleur got time off from work to pick Kingston up.

“I feel like I have a piece of my husband back,” LaFleur said of her late husband’s “best friend” returning, though she wished he was still here to witness the reunion.

Joseph LaFleur died in a work-related accident in 2022.