Find out what's happening in Lindenhurstwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Within that 10 minutes, they just disappeared,” she said.

The dogs were nowhere to be found in the yard, on the street, or in the neighborhood.

Duryea and her friend immediately searched the surrounding area for the dogs. The house was near the Great South Bay and on a canal; they checked with dock officials and neighbors, and a nearby restaurant, Chateau La Mer, she said.
Click Here: gold coast titans shirt

A representative for Chateau La Mer told Patch that employees watched about four hours of surveillance footage, based off the two-hour time frame Duryea gave them.

The dogs did not appear on the surveillance footage, and Duryea eliminated the possibility they went toward the canal.

She also hired a dog tracker, who traced the dogs’ scent to behind Chateau La Mer, but not in front of it, she said.

Instead, Duryea reached out on social media and the nearby community, pleading for the return of the dogs. Many Long Islanders were touched by the story, and shared Duryea’s posts numerous times in many social media groups.

Duryea would often receive tips from those who claimed to see a stray long-haired German Shepard.

But on Sunday, the possibility she first eliminated became a reality. Duryea was leaving a pet sitting job in the Hamptons when she received a call from Suffolk County Police sergeant.

“He said to me, we found a Shepard body floating in the water,” she said.

The sergeant later called her back to confirm the dog was Sarabi.

“I hung up on him. And I was just screaming in my car at that point, just in disbelief,” she said.

Since Duryea was far from the scene, her friend, Brianna went to meet the police instead.

“At that point, I was trying not to pull over and throw up on the side of the road,” she said.

Brianna took the dog to their emergency veterinarian, who confirmed via microchip that the dog was, indeed, Sarabi.

Both the veterinarian and police told Duryea that the dog’s appearance and state of decomposition suggested it had been in the canal for a long period of time.

“Brianna was just like, I can’t let you see or like this,” she said.

Duryea told Patch that at this point, she is “expecting the worst” and believes Nova’s body is also in the canal. In her social media, post, she asked anyone to keep an eye out for her remains.

“I’m now focusing on finding her remains and finding her for the closure we all desperately need,” she wrote.

Duryea created a GoFundMe to finance a reward for the missing dogs. Community members donated a total of $1,167.

In the social media post, Duryea offered to return money to anyone who wishes. Otherwise, the funds have been put towards the cremation of Sarabi.

She also told Patch that she and her family can’t thank the community enough for supporting her.

“The community and everyone who has reached out to me, my family and I greatly appreciate all the kind words and everyone who were sharing and looking,” she said. “I know that this was one of the outcome that no one wanted. But, you know, it means a lot to us.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.