Michael McVey wants to know what kind of person would steal his SUV from the parking lot of the Gilroy Walmart while his beloved 15-year-old dog was waiting in the back seat.
Two unknown suspects stole McVey’s Nissan Pathfinder at approximately 9 a.m. Sunday, according to the Gilroy Police Department. Four days later Thursday morning, the San Jose Police Department called McVey to give him the worst kind of news: Police discovered the vehicle abandoned in the parking lot of San Jose’s Walmart, but Keiko – McVey’s female Akita that he raised from a puppy – was found dead in the back seat.
After McVey returned to his SUV Sunday, minutes after he left it with the rear windows lowered to allow Keiko to breathe, he wondered if somebody was playing a sick joke on him. Next, when the gravity of the situation set in, McVey said he felt ill.
“Who would do that with a dog in it?” McVey said.
McVey rushed to the Walmart service desk for help, unsure of what else to do.
According to McVey, Walmart employee called the Gilroy Police Department on McVey’s behalf. When the investigating officer arrived on scene, McVey said he asked if there were any witnesses.
McVey remembers pointing to a surveillance camera in the parking lot.
Walmart staff permitted the officer to watch the surveillance footage of the vehicle theft, according to McVey, but he wasn’t able to himself. When McVey asked for a copy of the video to share on social media in hopes of finding the suspect car thieves, Walmart refused, he added.
“They never let those out without a subpoena,” McVey remembered being told by one of many Walmart representatives he spoke to on the phone. “That was their policy. A couple of people said they’d only release the videos to police.”
Calls to Walmart’s Media Relations Department requesting comment on corporate policy regarding surveillance camera footage were not returned as of press time.
But on Friday afternoon, the Dispatch obtained still images of the two suspects who police suspect stole McVey’s vehicle and killed his dog. McVey said he hopes the images will go viral, but he wishes he was able to get the pictures before Keiko died.
“There is so much more that could have been done,” he said. “I wouldn’t have a dead dog. If the video was released, those guys would be locked up, and those crimes wouldn’t have been committed.”
But what hurts McVey is why Walmart’s security patrol didn’t notice his vehicle sitting in the San Jose parking lot, as he said it was abandoned there – with Keiko still inside – for four days.
“Keiko was the most gentle, sweetest dog you could ever meet,” he said. “She’s the kind of dog who when she saw somebody down in the dumps she’d make them smile. She’s one in a billion dog. There are great dogs out there, but she was the one.”
