UPDATE | Sept. 23, 7:41 p.m. — Roemer confirmed just before 6 p.m. his dog Kobe was found and is safe. The car remains missing.
DENVER — It was a summer's long effort of saving money for a new car.
Denver resident Nick Roemer picked up his blacked out 2005 Volvo XC90 on Monday and before he knew it, it was gone.
On Wednesday, his car was stolen in Lakewood off of S. Wadsworth Boulevard and W. Center Avenue in front of his work.
"As soon as I walked up to those doors and I noticed my car wasn't here, my heart sank," Roemer said.
But it's not the car he's worried about.
"I don't care about the car. Do whatever you want with the car. Go crash it, wreck it, chop it, sell it, I really don't care. I just want my best friend back," Roemer said.
Kobe, his 4-year-old Blue Heeler, was sitting in the back.
"Two years ago I adopted him from Cattle Dog Rescue. He came from Kansas, I mean you can say I rescued him, but he really he rescued me," Roemer said.
He was dealing with depression at the time.
"He is like my child. He is literally like my child. I brought him everywhere I could. It got too hot the last few weeks, so I wasn't able to bring him to any places. This was
the first time I brought him out," Roemer said.
Roemer left the car and AC running for Kobe and went inside work to grab something.
"It's like leaving your son in the car for a few minutes to go into a store, and then coming out and it's gone and he's gone," Roemer said tearfully.
Regret consumed Roemer instantly. He called police and would spend the entire night searching for Kobe.
Roemer knows some will criticize him for leaving Kobe in the car. It's a lesson he say's he'll live with forever.
As the colder months approach, many will be tempted to leave their own cars running to warm up, but in a year when the metro has already seen more than 10,000 cars stolen, the chances of it happening to anyone have never been better.
Just ask Nick Roemer.
