Shea Ray doesn’t know what tomorrow holds but understands adversity.
Since moving to Santuck in 2008, she has lived through the April 2011 tornado and multiple animals going missing.
“Every time we get a dog at this property, something either happens to it or it runs away or gets stolen,” Ray said. “Every single time. It is like a series of unfortunate events because it's like I feel like I’m jinxed at this property. It's like they just vanished.”
Submitted / The Herald Noah Ray, 11, lays in bed with Crumble. The family's English Springer Spaniel has been missing since May 8.
The latest is an English Springer Spaniel, Crumble, who went missing on the morning of May 8.
“I let her out that morning just like I do every morning from 6:45 to 7 a.m.,” Ray said. “In that time frame she just vanished. It was just unusual since she was an inside dog; she always stayed close to the house.”
Ray and her children Noah, 11, Dallan, 10 and Finley, 5, started searching and going door-to-door immediately.
“I made hundreds of flyers,” Ray said. “Then we started going up every road we could find.”
Ray moved to the property just off Highway 9 in 2008. Three years later the first unfortunate event occurred — the April 2011 tornado outbreak. The tornado that traveled across Elmore County into Tallapoosa County created all sorts of damage but in her neighborhood, it struck only her home.
“The roof next door got a little messed up,” Ray said. “It literally jumped the pond and my house was gone. It is like it picked it up and put it in the pond. There was a horse in the field that landed in my pool in the backyard. It was crazy.”
Ray even fished her wedding dress out of the pond. She also lost a dog in the tornado and has a tattoo to remember her. Three days after the tornado Ray found out she was pregnant with her first child.
“I loved the name Noah,” Ray said. “Because of the storm and everything, Noah made sense because of Noah and the storm in the Bible.”
The Rays almost always had dogs they adopted but were mostly outside dogs.
“They didn’t really have the temperament to be inside too much,” Ray said. “They were already runners to some degree. At least four dogs went missing over the years.”
There were cats too, but those were adopted out because of an allergy. It was a while before the family decided to take on another pet.
“We had taken a break from dogs because the loss is such a traumatic thing,” Ray said.
Christmas 2021 was coming up and Ray was thinking it was about time to consider another dog. This time the family went a different route. Instead of adopting, Santa brought Crumble.
“[Noah’s] birthday is two days before Christmas,” Ray said. “Santa brought her early, right before his birthday. It was a really special time. Santa’s elves already had the name picked out when she got here. We assumed she got into cookies and that is why she is named that.”
Ray said Crumble was the typical English Springer Spaniel.
“She was the lovable, kind, water dog,” Ray said. “It was the first dog that we got that we made sure that everything about it was taken care of. We spoiled her. We have had Crumble since she was a puppy. She knew this was her home.”
Finley remembers naps on the bed and dog bed.
“Most of the time I usually get to sleep with her and get to play with her,” Finley said.
Noah played with Crumble outside and near the pool.
“She means a lot,” Noah said.
Finley recalls the morning of May 8 as the family was starting their daily routine.
“She was always laying on the back porch in the morning to come back in,” Finley said. “[That morning] five minutes after we let her out, she was gone.”
Ray said she understands possibly why some of her other animals have turned up missing, but not Crumble.
“She was mostly an inside dog,” Ray said. “So it was more like she loved being inside laying on the kids, just cuddling with them. She thought she was the size of a chihuahua. She thought she was super tiny but she is not.”
Ray turned to social media. She posted everywhere she could think of, missing animal pages, chat and news pages and more. But nothing local has come of the posts, fliers and searches.
“The closest thing is somebody messaged me from Selma and said they had spotted an English Springer Spaniel in the woods,” Ray said. “When I saw that I said, ‘It does look like Crumble.’ From that moment I could only think someone may have stolen with the intentions of breeding because she is purebred.”
Ray and the children haven’t given up on Crumble. During their searches, they did come across another puppy — a mixed breed.
“We just call her puppy,” Noah said.
Ray said the puppy has helped in Crumble’s absence but is unsure if it has a permanent home with the Rays.
“We haven’t made that commitment yet,” Ray said.
