"Tell everyone you know about Mattie"

Alice Matthews talked with private detective who specializes in finding lost pets. Based on the situation with Mattie, she advises the following:

• Mattie could be a few miles away from the area where he's been seen from time-to-time, or he could be a few hundred miles away.
  
• Tell everyone you know about him.
  
• One of your good neighbors may have adopted or purchased Mattie, under a completely innocent context. Please look in the back yards of your neighbors.
  
• If you suspect that a dog in your neighborhood could be the missing Mattie, call Tom & Alice Matthews at 616-706-6026.
  

Video message from Tom & Alice Matthews

One way volunteers can help -- coordinating with small businesses

For Mattie to be found, we feel it is essential for businesses to join in -- businesses such as beauty shops, churches, pet grooming shops, liquor stores, convenience stores, gas stations, and more. In general, places where people come together and talk! We need volunteers to reach out to such businesses and request that they:

1. Post a "Mattie Reward Flyer" in a prominent location.
2. Provide a stack of "Mattie Reward Leaflets" for customers to take with them.

The volunteer who coordinated things with a given business is then asked to keep in contact with the business to see if any customers offered any reports of seeing Mattie, and to make sure that the business doesn't run out of "Mattie Reward Leaflets."

If you can volunteer in this capacity, send an e-mail to whereintheworldismattie@gmail.com.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch article (Nov. 29)

From a Nov. 29 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article by Norm Parish:

Just as they have done many times over the last three weeks, Alice and Thomas Matthews of Grand Rapids, Mich., on Tuesday worked the streets and alleys of north St. Louis in search of their missing dog, Mattie.

And the results were same as they have been since Nov. 7, when the Matthewses' car, with Mattie inside, was stolen: No sightings, despite a $3,000 reward.

On Tuesday afternoon in a dusty St. Louis alley, Alice Matthews approached a teenaged male with a flier of Mattie, while her husband stapled a flier to a telephone pole.

"I haven't seen him today," the youth said. "But I saw him two weeks ago."

The Matthewses continued looking.

Their 2001 Buick LeSabre and Mattie were taken Nov. 7 while the Matthewses, on vacation, were window-shopping in the University City Loop.

The car turned up Nov. 9 in Cape Girardeau, Mo., after a police chase. But there was no sign of a dog.

Two St. Louis men, James Butler Jr., 21, and Donnell Riley, 22, have been charged in the case.

Both men deny taking the car and deny knowing anything about a 14-inch-tall, white, fluffy, mixed-breed dog, Cape Girardeau police said.

The couple was tipped to look for their dog on Harney Avenue, just west of Calvary Cemetery in north St. Louis. On Nov. 10, they found their dog's crate near an alley behind a vacant house in the 5900 block of Harney.

The couple left the crate, filled with the dog's towels, at the site, hoping it will return. They say they have received dozens of sightings of the Mattie — mostly in the Jennings and nearby St. Louis area.

The couple looked for their pet for a few days after it went missing and returned to St. Louis area on Thanksgiving to continue the search. The couple will be here until Sunday.

They are getting help from Stray Rescue, the Missouri Humane Society and about a dozen other volunteers.

"I feel for them," said Yvonne Belosi, 41, a nurse who travels nearly an hour from Hillsboro to help with the search. "They lost their car. They lost their dog. I just wanted to help them."

The Matthewses said they will continue looking for Mattie as long as they keep getting leads.

Thomas, 53, is an accountant, and his wife, Alice, 52, is a surgical technician.

"We were absolutely devastated," said Alice Matthews about the loss of their dog of about 12 years. "We just feel helpless. We first got Mattie for our daughter but he is now part of our family. But as long as there is hope we will keep looking with the help of volunteers."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch article (Nov. 18)

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

This is no way to treat our visitors. Earlier this month, while Tom and Alice Matthews were visiting from Michigan, their car was stolen from the University City Loop area. Their 12-year-old dog, Mattie, was inside.

When the thieves were caught a few days later in Cape Girardeau, they said that they had left Mattie and his crate in Jennings. The crate was found, with Mattie's blankets, but there was no sign of Mattie.

The Matthewses had to return to Michigan last weekend, but they asked a family friend to continue the search. The friend contacted Stray Rescue, which is circulating fliers with a $500 reward which will be updated this weekend to a $3,000 reward of which Stray Rescue contributed $2,000.

Anyone who may have seen Mattie or who is willing to print out and distribute flyers is asked to call Stray Rescue at 314-771-6121.

snewman@post-dispatch.com