Someone broke into a woman’s apartment and stole only her dog

Update (5:13 p.m.) The dog mysteriously reappeared in the apartment complex’s parking lot this afternoon, according to the complex superintendent.

Original story: After a Riverhead couple left their apartment for work yesterday, someone broke into their home and stole their Yorkshire Terrier – leaving everything else untouched, including cash, two pocket books and a laptop that were all plainly visible in the same room

“They took nothing but the dog,” said Kelly Turbush, who lives with her boyfriend in the Fairfield Pines apartment complex next to Tanger Outlets. “Their only intention was to take Bella.”

Turbush, a school bus driver, left her apartment just before noon yesterday. “Everything was locked,” she said.

When her boyfriend arrived home around 5 p.m. that afternoon, he found the dog’s kennel door wide open. Bella was no where to be found.

“He checked everywhere,” she said. “Under the couch, under the bed – he couldn’t find her.”

Turbush decided to leave work early. When she arrived home, she entered the apartment through the rear sliding glass door, hoping to spot Bella if she had somehow escaped into the complex.

That was when she first saw that their kitchen window screen had been cut and removed from the window.

What’s more, there was an L-shaped cut in the sliding glass door screen – and the sliding glass door was unlocked, which is not how Turbush had left it when she went to work that morning.

“They must have first cut the sliding glass door screen to see if we left the door unlocked,” Turbush said. “Then they broke in through the window, and then they exited out the sliding glass door.”

Nothing else had been taken from the apartment, including $40 in cash and a laptop computer that were both sitting on the kitchen table, right next to Bella’s kennel. There were also two designer pocketbooks and a designer watch in the kitchen that were also left untouched.

“This was someone who knew we had a dog and wanted to take her,” Turbush said.

Bella is a two-pound, brown Yorkshire Terrier that Turbush got three years ago, when Bella was only four months old. Turbush used to breed terriers until a neighbor’s dog killed her two dogs and their puppy. After that, Turbush moved into her boyfriend’s apartment and bought Bella.

“She’s my baby,” Turbush said. “She such a little sweetheart.”

Bella is also very close with Turbush’s one-year-old granddaughter, Adrianna, who is able to pick up the dog and play with her. One of Adrianna’s first words was, “Bella,” says Turbush.

“She’s so friendly,” she said. “She never barks. She’s just such an excellent, well-mannered dog.”

Turbush is offering a reward for anyone who finds Bella. Riverhead Police are currently investigating the incident, according to Detective Sergeant Edward Frost, which includes a review of security camera footage in the apartment complex.

Anyone with information can call Riverhead Police at (631) 727-4500. Turbush can also be reached directly at (631) 591-2460.