About this site

Mattie is a sweet little dog who disappeared after the car he was in was stolen in November 2006 from the University City Loop in St. Louis, Missouri. His owners, Tom & Alice Matthews from Michigan, were visiting St. Louis and were window shopping in the Loop at the time. The purpose of this web site is to get Mattie back home where he belongs. If you can volunteer to help find Mattie, or if you have any information, please e-mail whereintheworldismattie@gmail.com.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Please print and share these flyers


There are three flyers available for download:

1. "Street" flyer
-- appropriate for posting at intersections and such. TO PRINT: Click here and the flyer will open. Right-click and save to your desktop. Then double-click on the icon you just created on your desktop and print it from the program that opens.

2. "Handout" flyer (which includes Mattie's story) -- good to hand-out to people and to ask small businesses to make available for their customers to take home. TO PRINT: Click here and the page with 2 of these flyers will open. Right-click and save to your desktop. Then double-click on the icon you just created on your desktop and print it from the program that opens. Cut the printed pages in half.

3. "Business window" flyer (which includes Mattie's story)
-- good to place in storefront windows where people can get close enough to read all of the print. TO PRINT: Click here and the page will open. Right-click and save to your desktop. Then double-click on the icon you just created on your desktop and print it from the program that opens.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Mattie, Mattie, Mattie -- where are you?

It's been a number of months, but the search continues. The flyers are in the Metro buses in St. Louis. We are following up on possible leads. There are some upcoming animal-friendly events where we'll be aiming to get the word out even wider.

If you can volunteer to help, please don't hesitate to drop Tom & Alice Matthews a note at the e-mail address noted above.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

The search continues

The search for Mattie continues. Numerous tips and possible sightings have been received and checked out. More than thirty strays, all Mattie look-alikes to various degrees, have found new homes.

The hope is that someone who doesn't know about the search nor the reward has taken Mattie into their home. So, to further help getting the word out, advertisements like the one above will start appearing soon inside Bi-State buses in the St. Louis area.

Special thanks to Lamar Advertising for their assistance and community support in making this happen.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Volunteers (updated 3/11)

Here is the current list of volunteers, along with a rough list of what each volunteer focuses on. In addition to the information below, many of the volunteers post flyers throughout the area. Send an e-mail with updates, additions, or corrections.
  • Mary Anne -- Checks Florissant Animal Control and North County Animal Control.
  • Yvonne -- Coordinates on possible spottings.
  • Wendy
  • Kim -- Checks Macklind Humane Society.
  • Melissa -- Real-estate agent in the area.
  • Lisa -- Checks County Animal Control at Seven Hills, Florissant Animal Control, Animal Control on Hunter.
  • Kathy -- Checks the St. Charles Humane Society.
  • Tina
  • Kelly
  • Tom -- Maintains the web site.
  • Aswini -- New volunteer -- Welcome and thanks Aswini!!
  • Ginny & Robert
  • Carolyn -- Fields calls on possible sightings. Monitors the gmail account. Makes sure the shelters are being checked.
  • Marsha -- Checks Florissant Animal Control and North County Animal Control.
  • Tracy
  • Sharon
  • Vita -- Checks APA.
  • Deborah -- Coordinates on possible spottings. Donates services from her business.
  • Mary -- Checks Maryland Heights Humane Society, Animal Control on Hunter, APA.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Volunteer help on Saturday

Thanks to all of you who came out to help post flyers on Saturday -- Alice, Tom, Mary Anne, Tom, Kathy, Bob, Carolyn, Kelly, Bonnie, Melissa and her three cute daughters, Tom and Aswini (new volunteer). And thanks to Kelly for some nice, bright backing for some of the posters. Have to tell you that while I was posting one of them, a police officer pulled over and told me that they didn't allow flyers on their poles. I apologized and told him that it was a flyer for the "poor dog that was in a car that was stolen last November". He said "I remember the story. Tell you what, let me get out of here and when I'm gone, I won't see what you're doing and won't look at that pole when I come back by here. Just do what you need to do." With that, he took off and I madly went to work getting the tape to stick to that wood pole.

FOX-2 coverage of the search (Mar. 9)

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Current efforts

  • Letters to vets -- assumes someone has Mattie and doesn't know about the reward and will be taking him to a vet sometime
  • Flyers being posted further out (i.e. Hazelwood, airport-area)
  • Billboard to trigger more awareness and radio coverage
  • Bi-state buses -- advertisement posted inside buses

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Thanks for your help

Thank you to Kathy, Ginny, Robert, Bob, Kris, Bonnie, Kelly, Tom and Carolyn for going to the Soulard Pet Parade today to hand out flyers. There were many people who were not familiar with Mattie's story and there were a lot of people who thought he had been found. We spoke with people from all different areas of St. Louis and all were sympathetic and voiced their concern that this could have happened in St. Louis.

I couldn't believe the huge number of people and dogs in the parade -- some wonderful costumes and a very enjoyable time.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Mattie's nose

If you find a dog that fits Mattie's description, here's one detail you can look at closely: Mattie's nose. Mattie's nose is pinkish toward the front, with a "black dot" toward the middle. Keep in mind, though, that color of dog's noses can change some as the climate changes. The picture shown here was taken last August.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

More $25,000 flyers posted on Sat., 1/27


Another wave of the $25,000 flyers... on Saturday, Jan. 27... thanks to the team of 7 volunteers... Robert & Ginny (brand new volunteers -- welcome!), Kathy, Marsha & husband, Carolyn, Tom. Also, apologies to Bob & Kris for the scheduling mix-up but we hope to see you next time!

Volunteers, please feel free to post flyers anytime, of course! Please be sure to e-mail us any information so that he can update the coverage map.

The idea is to keep track of when flyers are going up so that we can all be better-coordinated and so that we know when old flyers need to be replaced. Click on the map to see it larger.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some frequently asked questions that we receive:

Q. Where do you think Mattie is?
A. There have been unconfirmed sightings of him in North St. Louis City and in nearby Jennings, MO. His empty crate (from the car he was in) was found in North St. Louis City. At this point, we speculate that someone has taken him in. We really want to spread the word of the $25,000 reward so that whoever has him will be motivated to return him in exchange for the reward.

Q. Is the $25,000 for real?
A. Yes! Absolutely. Tom & Alice Matthews would rather have Mattie back then spend the $25,000 on a new car. They have the money set up in a St. Louis bank account, ready to be handed to the person who returns Mattie safely to them. You can always call Tom or Alice directly at 616-706-6026 with any detailed questions about this.

Q. Who are the volunteers? Are they doing this for the reward money?
A. The volunteers (listed here) are people from St. Louis and surrounding areas who have become friends of Tom & Alice Matthews. They are not doing this for the reward money -- none of them would accept any of the reward money under any circumstance. Tom & Alice will deliver the reward money directly to whoever out there safely returns Mattie.

Volunteers, if you have other FAQs, send them to us for publishing.

Shelter Update (updated 1/22)

Send an e-mail when you have checked a shelter so that we can include your information below.
  • Jan 5th-Jan 20th: Seven Hills, Florissant AC & Hunter Ave. facilities checked weekly or more by Lisa.
  • Jan. 14- Checked Humane Society in Maryland Heights. (Mary)
  • Jan. 5 - Checked APA on Hanley today for Mattie. She isn't there and they are still watching for her should she come in. (Mary)
  • Jan. 4 - County AC @ Seven Hills and Florissant AC checked by Lisa.
  • Jan. 4 - Checked Humane Society in Maryland Heights today for Mattie. No luck. Her picture is still posted on the board there. (Mary)
  • Dec. 27 - County AC @ Seven Hills and Florissant AC checked by Lisa.
  • Dec. 26 - Maryland Heights Humane Society checked by Carolyn.
  • Dec. 26 - Humane Society on Macklind, APA, and StL County Animal Shelter on Hunter checked by Tom.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Volunteers needed to contact radio stations

Let's get the following radio stations to help. We need three volunteers -- one for each of the radio stations listed below -- to request some additional exposure. If you can take on one of the radio stations, send an e-mail to whereintheworldismattie@gmail.com.
Our request is that the radio stations help their listeners understand that...

1. ...the $25,000 reward is REAL. Tom & Alice will pay the $25,000 to the party who reunites them with Mattie. A local bank account is set up from which the funds will be withdrawn. The person receiving the reward will get the reward in the form of cash if desired.

2. ...there is one and only reason for the high reward: Getting Mattie back. Mattie is family to them. They would rather pay $25,000 to get Mattie back than to buy a new car -- they value Mattie's return as greater than the value they'd get from a new car.

3. ...if requested, the identity of whoever comes forward can and will maintained in confidence by Tom & Alice.

4. ...any information -- even if it's not-so-good news -- is appreciated. Tom & Alice want to find closure in this situation and stop worrying themselves sick about their dog.

Also, Tom and Alice are available for interviews. They have been featured multiple times on NewsChannel 5, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Suburban Journals -- with an outpouring of responses from the community.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

Ch. 5 segment on Mattie and $25,000 reward


With the reward for Mattie increased to $25,000, Ch. 5 interviewed Alice Matthews on the 10:00 p.m. news. Also, the print story from Ch. 5's web site:
Michigan Couple Increase Reward For Missing Dog
Created: 1/6/2007 9:08:45 PM
Last updated: 1/7/2007 2:44:19 AM

(KSDK) - There's now a $25,000 reward to help find a Michigan couple's missing dog.

Mattie, a mixed breed, vanished in November when Tom and Alice Matthews' car was stolen from the Delmar Loop.

Police recovered the car. The alleged thieves told the Matthews to search Jennings. That's where they found Mattie's cage. But so far there have been no confirmed sightings of the dog.

The Matthews have returned to the St. Louis area several times searching for the dog. A small group of local volunteers is also keeping the search alive.

Anyone with information about Mattie is asked to contact the Matthews at 616-706-6026.