Two of six Black Mouth Cur puppies that were reported stolen on Aug. 11. Two of the pups were found dead and the other is being treated for injuries. (Photo courtesy of Kendall County Sheriff’s Department

Three missing puppies have been reunited with their owners after being stolen from a barn in Newark on Aug. 11

According to Kendall County Sheriff’s deputies, three additional puppies that were taken at the same time have turned up dead in a different town.

No arrests have been made in the case, but police are looking to speak to a Downers Grove woman about the puppy abduction.

Deputies said that on Aug. 11 they received a report about six Black Mouth Cur puppies that had taken without permission from a barn in the 16000 block of Route 52 in Newark.

Deputies put a plea for the puppies’ safe return out on Facebook, as did the puppies’ owners. The request led to several leads being received. One tip led detectives to a location in Warrenville where four of the puppies were found outside a Target store, Mrozek said.

Two of the dogs were found dead; one was found injured and was treated. It has since been reunited with its owners.

The hunt for the remaining two puppies, however, was still on.

And then, there was a mysterious social media post that piqued deputies’ interests.

A woman with the Facebook name Aleydis Viorato Lopez had placed an advertisement online for the sale of several puppies.

Black Mouth Cur are known as strong hunting dogs.

The stolen puppies’ owner, Cindy Benson, believed that based on the dog’s markings and their collars, that the puppies in the picture were the ones taken.

“From that point forward we began trying to track (Vorato Lopez) down,” Mrozek said. “A lot of times social media is great, but in this instance she became aware we were looking for her and is now hiding…. We have yet to make contact with her. All we want to do is speak with her. We don’t know the whole story yet.”

But, the puppies’ safe return, it turned out, wasn’t contingent on Lopez being found.

On Monday afternoon, deputies announced that a Good Samaritan located the three remaining puppies in a park in downtown Chicago and ultimately contacted his veterinarian office to get them checked out.

“One of the veterinarian technicians had noticed that they looked very similar to the puppies that were stolen, and contacted detectives,” deputies said. “They were also checked out by the vet, and were found to be in good health. The victim was able to positively identify the puppies, and they have been returned home.”

Benson, who created a Facebook page for the missing puppies, expressed her heartfelt thanks on the page, which garnered more than 1,500 members in just three days.

“THANK YOU!!! Words cannot express the joy we feel on the return of our other two females,” Benson expressed online. “There is absolutely no way we could have done this without ALL of you. We can never thank you all enough.

The three we lost will always hold a special place in our hearts and we will continue to fight for them until justice is served! We have the utmost faith in the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office to see this case through.”

And, while they continue to hunt for their suspect, deputies thanked the public for its help in finding the missing dogs.

“We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to the public, who thankfully flooded our inbox with tips that proved invaluable in this case,” they wrote on the department’s Facebook page. “Another special thank you to Duke Animal Hospital in Chicago for remembering these guys, and getting in touch with us!”

— Sheriff’s office investigating theft of six puppies – three found dead —