Newspaper Car Crash

Dog missing for year after car crash heading home to Michigan

Clio — After a year of dealing with a gut-wrenching tragedy, four children and their mother finally got some good news: The family dog is coming home.

Monica Benson, 30, was riding with her husband, Gary, their five children and dog Caesar on June 15, 2010, on a remote stretch of Interstate 40 near Tucumcari, N.M., when their 2001 Chevrolet minivan overturned.

Gary Benson and daughter Emily died from injuries in the crash. Son Benjamin suffered serious injuries and was placed in intensive care at Amarillo Hospital.

Caesar, a white Maltese, was nowhere to be found.

"The dog was probably thrown from the car," said Monica Benson's father, Lee Harris. "The accident happened out in the desert; there's nothing out there but wilderness."

Then, Friday, they got a call they never expected: Caesar was located at a New Mexico animal shelter.

"I called Monica, and when I told her the dog was still alive, she started crying," Harris said Wednesday. "She told the kids the next day, and they were so happy."

Long before the call, little Caesar figured into then-18-month-old Benjamin's recovery.

"While Benjamin was in the ICU, we placed pictures of him and Caesar on the walls," Benson said. "When he woke up, he would point at the pictures and say, 'Caesar.'"

The family returned to the accident site and tried to find Caesar, to no avail.

"We figured he must've ran away," said Harris, one of those who rushed to New Mexico after the accident.

"I went to the hospital and some lady called and said she found the dog," Harris said. "So she brought this dog to the hospital, but it wasn't Caesar. She tried to give it to us anyway, but we had too much going on to take on a dog that wasn't Caesar."

After Benjamin recovered, the family returned home, resigned to never seeing their dog again.

On Friday, a volunteer for the Tucumcari Animal Rescue Group was looking for adoptable dogs at the local animal shelter and spotted a furry white Maltese. It was among seven dogs that were taken to the veterinarian's office to be scanned for a microchip, which Caesar had.

The volunteer, Christina Flemming, called the chip company and was given a Michigan phone number, but the number was disconnected. Benson had moved and changed phone numbers, her father said.

But Flemming didn't give up. She looked online and found a newspaper article about a family from Clio, north of Flint, who had lost a dog during a fatal car crash."She got a hold of the funeral home in Grand Blanc where the funerals were held, and they were able to get a hold of me," Harris said.

Teen killed in Solon crash | Cedar Springs Post Newspaper

A 19-year-old Rockford youth was killed in a two-car accident Thursday evening, August 11, in Solon Township.

According to the Kent County Sheriff Department, Kyle James Alberta, 19, of Cannon Township, was traveling westbound on 19 Mile in a 2006 Hyundai Sonata about 6:52 p.m. when he stopped at the stop sign at Algoma. He reportedly then pulled out in front of a northbound vehicle driven by April Marie Proctor, 25 of Kent City. Proctor’s vehicle then struck Alberta’s vehicle on the driver’s side.

Alberta was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger, Kristin Nicole Martin, 19, of Rockford, was transported to Spectrum Butterworth Hospital by Rockford Ambulance with possible internal injuries.

Proctor was transported to Spectrum Butterworth, by AeroMed, with multiple fractures on her right side.

Alcohol is not believed to be a factor. The crash is still under investigation.

Assisting at the scene was Solon Fire and Rescue, Rockford Ambulance, AeroMed, and the Kent County Road Commission.

Palmer's index to the Times newspaper

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