1/9/25

🤯Big news! After nearly 5 months, Rakim is home! Exhaling in disbelief and gratitude as I wash the dust from this little fur baby’s bowl. With photos of Rakim still on the altar, she will be a ghost no longer. My phone’s been blowin up, but I just needed a day to give our confused dog some grounding love. It’s been a hard several months of detective work, digging, diligence, patience, and communal prayers. Big thanx to all those who helped comb the streets, print & post bills, knock on doors, share info online, check out lost dog leads while we were out of the country, the psychic reader, support from shelters, animal lovers, and all the prayers prayers and mo’ prayers. Thank you all for amplifying Rakim’s tragic disappearance. Oh, and the virtual dog chases on FaceTime! Asé. 

 

Tbh, the first few months were inspiring as we united to manifest her return, but after a few months, I couldn’t ask for help from the community anymore and had to go stealth mode 🥷🏽

 

Scene of the crime: August 17th 2024. Rakim🐶 was dog-napped during my DJ set at the Oakland Museum. I’ve had her for 4 years and she sits by my turntables at nearly every show. She sometimes leaves to greet other dogs, but nearly never goes out of site and always comes back to the stage. That night during my set, I had texts from two families letting me know that they were both together with my dog at OMCA. After my DJ set I spoke to one mom and daughter who said they left Rakim with the other family - a mom and son. Then the mom (& son) said they already left the event without my dog and went back home. I asked her if she lived near the museum and she replied, "San Leandro." She empathized with my loss and expressed that she didn’t know what she would do without her little dog and wished me luck in finding mine.

After about two months of having no choice but to blast my personal cell number everywhere, I concluded that there are a lot of small dogs wandering these streets + a good amount of heartless scammers taking advantage of the recently broken hearted. I did get a promising call from a lady at an apartment complex in San Leandro. One that stood out. She said her kids spotted the missing dog from the poster and she didn’t believe them until she saw the resemblance herself and called me. While I was on the phone with her, the kids said to the lady walking the dog, “that dog is lost and we want to get her to the owner!” The dog walker immediately picked up the dog and left.

 

Stacking Clues: Rakim was still a ghost, but It was a clue! Via a reverse phone number site, my boo - Jo connected the phone number of the last person seen with Rakim to three addresses and some names. We then visited the addresses. One of the addresses was a match to the San Leandro dog sighting neighborhood. Through social media, we found pictures of the mother and son and confirmed their identities with the other family who was with Rakim at OMCA the night of the napping. We also sent the pic to the San Leandro dog sighting lady and she positively identified the woman as a person who walks her two dogs there on the weekends, not one. Unfortunately, she never was seen walking Rakim on the weekends there again. After some social media monitoring, we found a pic of the son (grade school) and daughter (high school) posted in front of a beige apartment complex. We combed San Leandro for it, but no luck. We realized the apartment could be anywhere. After a couple more months of walking through various beige apartment buildings, we eventually found a match near Lake Merritt not San Leandro. Then we bought a little spy camera with motion detection and micro sd card and planted it facing the apartment stairs for one full day.

 

The Ghost of Rakim: At 2am the night before last, I went to pick up the camera and bring it home to scrub the footage. There she was! - The ghost of Rakim spotted walking down those stairs with none other than our prime suspect. It was a miracle. 5 months later... at 2am- “Jo! Wake up!” "Who do you see in this video?" We didn’t waste any time. Even though our son wakes up at 6:40 am for school, we left the house at 5:00am yesterday to scoop some donuts and pull up to the apartment where we knew Rakim was being held.

 

The final Stakeout: 1/8/25 5:45am Oakland. Still dark outside, we parked about 4 cars before the apartment driveway and the patch of grass Rakim would surely hit first. It was the only open parking spot and ideal for a stakeout position. Considered it "meant to be." I held down the lookout while watching Warrior on netflix from the back seat. Jo sat shotgun with sturdy emotional support while dead asleep ;) 6:55am crept up and I knew at least one of us needed to go home to get Saki ready for school. I was thinking to let Jo take the car home while I stayed with my skateboard but the dusk dew was out and it was cold. I decided to stay 5 more minutes until 7am then call it. At 7am sharp… Rakim showed up to pee and boom, I woke Jo, swung open the back right door and stepped onto the sidewalk facing the thief. It was just the two of us on the quiet empty sidewalk. I called, “Rakim!” As she ran over to me, I looked the thief in the eyes and smirked, “MHHMM” then told Rakim sternly, “Git in the car!” Rakim didn’t waste any time to jump in the back seat. Before closing the door, I paused to stare down the thief and peep her next move, which would facilitate my next move. I watched her go from alarmed, to a “caught red handed” 180 turn followed by cold foot steps down the sidewalk and a nervous cigarette tug. I shut Rakim’s car door, got in the driver's seat, then rolled up next to the woman and krept slow at her walking pace. She continuted tugging her cigarette and made zero eye contact. I presumed she didn’t want to lead us to her apartment, so she continued to pass it and was stuck on an aimless stroll down the block and around the corner. We continued to sweat her in our “soccer mom Kia” with tints rolling along side her walk of shame. A thief, dog napper, and Mom who will have to go back in the house and most likely lie to her kids about where their dog went. They’re probably mourning the loss of Rakim now. 

The Return Home: Rakim rode on my lap all the way home. No collar, hair a bit matted, a little bit stank, but healthy. I gave her a peppermint bath as soon as we walked in the door, and Saki & Shishin woke up to Rakim no longer being a ghost. She’s baaaaack! And all week, we’re spoiling her with a whole roast chicken. Grateful our family is complete again. I hope Rakim's story helps shift any leftover crappy 2024 energy into an inspiring 2025 + lunar new year. Giving thanks for all the support. We appreciate you all. Prayers answered.

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- Teao, Jo, Saki, Shishin, Rakim, and The Pharm.  Bless.