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LOCK HAVEN -- Sitting in the emergency room at Lock Haven Hospital, 33-year-old Jessica Alvarez wiped tears off her cheeks as she talked about her missing dogs.
Her two dogs, Jordy and Nash, went missing after an early-morning car crash Wednesday along Interstate 80. Alvarez, 33, and her boyfriend, 38-year-old Gary Vetter were heading back home to Kalamazoo, Mich., after spending Christmas Day with family in New York. A deer ran out in front of their 2017 Subaru Forester and when Vetter swerved to miss the deer, the vehicle left the roadway and rolled three times, Alvarez said.
The crash took place around mile marker 187 – about five miles from the Jersey Shore exit – at 5:30 a.m, close to the Logantown exit.
"We landed in a ditch. I turned around and the dogs were gone," Alvarez explained. "They're both alive, because they weren't there. They either got thrown or ran immediately."
The car was totaled in the accident.
"I looked behind us and all I saw were gifts and glass. I have no idea how we are OK, let alone alive," Alvarez said.
Jordy is a bulldog who just turned 4 in April. She was wearing pink collar with owls on it. Nash is a rotweiller/doberman mix and was wearing a reindeer collar. Jordy may be walking with a limp, according to Alvarez. She was scheduled to have surgery on Thursday because she recently severed her ACL.
"We didn't see them at all. I know if they had seen us, they would have come to us," Alvarez said.
Alvarez and Vetter were taken by Goodwill Hose Ambulance to Lock Haven Hospital, where they were being treated for some minor bumps and bruises.
The couple has only had Nash for a few months, adopting him in October.
"He's only a puppy, just 10 months old. But he's a pony. He's huge," Alvarez said through tears. "We don't have kids. These are our babies."
Following the crash, Alvarez said she pushed open the sunroof and began frantically calling and looking for the dogs.
"I just began screaming for the dogs," she said, "but they didn't come."
Alvarez and Vetter were waiting at the hospital for a ride back to Michigan. In the interim, they had their fingers crossed that they would hear something about their missing dogs.
If you have seen the dogs or know of their whereabouts, contact the Goodwill Hose Ambulance at 570-748-9022 or Alvarez at 845-548-1316.