In 2020, a Yorkie named Kingston went missing from his home in Lake Charles during Hurricane Laura, which devastated parts of southwestern Louisiana.
His owner, Debbie LaFleur, had cared for Kingston for six years and was devastated to return home after the storm and find him gone.
LaFleur and her husband immediately began searching the neighborhood, and many local residents joined the effort through Facebook. Despite everyone looking, the search came up empty.
The couple were heartbroken at the thought that they would never see Kingston again.
Five years later, over 300 miles away at the University of Southern Mississippi, a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity spotted a small Yorkie wearing a red T-shirt sitting on the street. Fraternity president Neal Rachal said the brothers took the pup in and affectionately named him Benji, making him their unofficial frat dog.
It wasn’t until later that they discovered the little dog they had adopted had actually been missing for years.
The day after taking in “Benji,” the fraternity’s vice president brought him to the vet to have his microchip scanned. That’s when they discovered his true identity – his name was Kingston and he had a family who had been searching for him for the past five years.
During his time on campus, Kingston quickly became part of the fraternity. He tagged along to intramural softball games and even accompanied the brothers on grocery runs. He was always by their side, keeping busy and soaking up the attention.
Although they had grown fond of him, the frat brothers knew he didn’t belong to them. They eventually searched PetLink and were able to track down Debbie LaFleur’s contact information.
LaFleur recalled her heart pounding when she got the news.
A week later, she and her son made the four-hour drive to the University of Southern Mississippi to bring Kingston home.
When they arrived at the fraternity house, LaFleur and her son walked inside and stood at the end of the hallway. As soon as Kingston saw them from the opposite end, he ran toward them.
While LaFleur was overjoyed to be reunited with Kingston, the moment was bittersweet.
In 2022, two years after Kingston went missing, her husband Joseph, who shared an unbreakable bond with the dog, passed away in a work accident. While he never got the chance to see Kingston again, LaFleur said that having him back made her feel connected to her late husband.
She remembers how Kingston would sleep on Joseph every night and wouldn’t come to her unless Joseph was at work.
She said that having Kingston back felt like having a piece of her husband with her again.
