CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Exactly a week ago, U.S. Army veteran John Morris was playing with his service dog Duke in his backyard.
But today he's heartbroken, after his best friend went missing from his home.
“He's always there to comfort me like when he knows I’m getting close he just loves me,” said Morris.
After sharing pictures of his lost dog to social media, John says a man reached out to him.
The man said he had seen a Candlewood Suites hotel worker find his dog Duke, but when she was struggling to keep him on a leash a man walked over and offered to take him off her hands.
So, John headed to Candlewood, following any possible leads.
“We spoke to the GM, they reviewed the tapes and they showed me,” said Morris. “They asked me on their security camera if that was my dog and it was heartbreaking watching somebody else take my dog.”
Johns says he saw a Hispanic man load duke into his black Jeep and drive away.
“The gentleman had Duke on a leash when he opened up his driver door and Duke was pretty far away from him,” said Morris. “Then he opened up the tailgate to his truck and he got duke to jump in and he tied duke up to the bed of the truck and off he went."
John says the hotel won't release the surveillance footage to him, due to privacy concerns.
He has now reached out to CCPD to try and get contact information for the man who allegedly took his dog.
“They said I would have to go file a theft report, wait a couple more days, then hopefully a detective gets assigned to it," said Morris.
In the meantime, he asks that if anyone has information, to come forward.
“Just have a heart and bring him home,” said Morris.
If you have any information on Duke you can reach out to KZTV reporter Brenda Matute at Brenda.matute@kristv.com