MOBILE, Ala. — Meeya Kim was tragically killed in a car accident on I-65 Thursday, Dec. 18, but her dog, who was riding in the car with her at the time of the accident, was mysteriously missing after being ejected from the vehicle.

700 miles away, the Kim family’s grief over the loss of Meeya was compounded by not being able to locate Bobby, a Havanese puppy.

The family took to social media, asking people to be on the lookout for the dog. Thousands of Facebook users shared the family’s pleas, but the odds seemed heavily stacked against them. After all, they weren’t even certain the dog had survived the horrific accident, and had no clue where it could be even if it had.

But just before Christmas, the Kim family received a call from Sherman Smith of Mobile, Ala., explaining that his sister-in-law, Wyntress McCants, had stumbled across the dog in the bushes at her home.

“I was walking into the front gate waiting for my brother and sister to come pick me up and I was hearing something in the bushes, and when I went to go look I saw a puppy,” McCants told WKRG.

After realizing whose dog they had found, Smith said he and McCants immediately decided to make the 10-hour drive to North Carolina to return the dog in time for Christmas.

“God puts you in places sometimes, you know, puts you in places for a reason,” he said. “It kind of worked out for the best.”

McCants said the long drive was worth it if it brought some comfort to the Kim family after the loss of Meeya.

“I feel real good about it that I could bring the dog back to them,” she said. “It makes me feel good inside knowing that in a time of sorrow I can make this family happy in some way.”

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— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) December 3, 2014