There, in the corner of a clip showing the severely cluttered Lyndhurst home, was a familiar face. Thinner, older, but unmistakable.
Leo, the beagle-bulldog she'd received as a Mother's Day gift in 2018 but had to rehome in 2023.
"I was like, there's no way that's him," Cruz said. "He looks like an old man now."
Cruz had driven all the way from Pearl River, NY (where she lived at the time) to Ohio to pick him up in 2018. Then, he was a chunky, happy "meatball" of a pup with a minor eye condition she immediately treated.
Leo had been part of the family. Her daughter, Arianna, only eight at the time, adored him. But life changed in 2023, and Cruz said she had no choice but to rehome him.
Through her sister, Cruz found a family in Lyndhurst -- "really nice people," she said. They had two young kids and a Chihuahua. Leo took to them instantly.
"He jumped on the couch and snuggled with the kids," Cruz remembered.
She checked in a few times that first month, and everything seemed fine. Then, as she put it, "life got harder at home."
Nearly two years later, Cruz's sister sent her a Daily Voice video showing police officers responding to the Lyndhurst home in "complete disarray" -- dog feces on the floor, drug paraphernalia scattered, and a strong odor throughout the apartment, Lyndhurst Police Capt. Paul Haggerty said. Officers described the conditions of the home as "emotionally disturbing," the captain said.
Inside were two starving dogs -- a husky and Leo. Both were taken to the Bergen County Animal Shelter, where staff would later confirm Leo's identity.
Police arrested James Wapinsky and Sarafina Gorfinkle, charging them with drug possession, child neglect, and endangering the welfare of a child, Haggerty said.
Meanwhile, Cruz couldn't believe what she was seeing. "He was a meatball when I had him," she said. "At his last vet visit, he was 42 pounds. Now, he was down to 30."
Cruz immediately reached out to Bergen County Animal Shelter Director Bob Bergamini, shared her story, and asked to re-adopt her dog.
On Saturday, Oct. 25, Cruz made the three-hour drive from Bangor, Pennsylvania, to Teterboro -- the same car she'd used to bring him home as a puppy seven years earlier.
When Leo saw her, there was no hesitation: He recognized her right away.
Leo's corkscrew tail had worn down to a nub. His nails were overgrown. He had a double ear infection. But his spirit -- and his bond with Cruz -- hadn't changed.
"It's a happy ending," said Debbie Yankow, the shelter's assistant manager and adoption coordinator. "I think that's the moral of the story."
Even Bergamini, the shelter director, teared up.
"This was a feel-good story in the end, which is nice," he said.
Cruz FaceTimed her daughter, Arianna, who burst into tears.
"He's not great," Cruz told her daughter. "But we'll make him great again."
After years apart, her meatball aka "Sir Stinks A Lot" is finally home for good.
Capt. Haggerty commended Lyndhurst Police Officer Mark Rivera, the department's humane law enforcement officer, who, the captain said, followed up on the case and coordinated with BCAS staff and the prosecutor's office.
Rivera will be charging Wapingsky and Gorfinkle with various animal cruelty-related offenses, Haggerty said.
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