2 dogs, car stolen from Windsor Hills neighborhood
Dogs & car stolen in NE Austin
Two dogs and a car were stolen from an Austin man. It happened two weeks ago and on Monday investigators said leads are starting to go cold.
AUSTIN, Texas - Two dogs and a car were stolen from an Austin man.
It happened two weeks ago and on Monday investigators said leads are starting to go cold.
The backstory:
Two gray schnauzers, Yuki and Ash, have been missing since October 20. They were taken from a house on Dallum Drive in the Windsor Hills neighborhood of northeast Austin.
The dogs belong to Zen Villegas. He works for Aaron Combs, who spoke to FOX 7 about the theft.
"It's definitely alarming that the fact this could happen, like all of a sudden, and it took me like two full days to kind of like, I knew it happened here. But in my heart, I was like, this really happened," said Combs.
Yuki and Ash
A blue Honda Fit was also taken, it belongs to Combs. He rented it to Villegas.
"Kind of really broken by this because his tools are inside the car. His whole life basically is in that car, right? And so, pretty distressing moment," said Combs.
A GoFundMe page was created to help replace the tools that were stolen.
Combs said the suspect in the case was invited to Villegas’s home for a gathering. Villegas met the man in an online chat group.
"He lost his heart, his dogs, and then he lost the things that he worked with too. So it was just a triple whammy," said Combs.
The new case, involving the theft of the dogs and the car, also provides a new twist on the "stranger danger" warning.
"And if they seem to be of anything that you doubt, just politely say, hey, let's do, I think, public venues only. And so that's what I've realized in this endeavor," said Combs.
What you can do:
If you recognize the dogs or the car, contact the Austin Police Department or the Central Texas Auto Theft Task Force.
The dogs were not chipped.
Pawn shops are also being checked for those missing tools.
Auto thefts in Austin
By the numbers:
Auto theft is a top five crime in Austin. Here are the top five offenses in Austin:
- Theft
- Assault
- Vandalism
- Fraud
- Auto theft
Cases in Austin are trending down, according to data from APD. Here are the numbers for Austin auto thefts from the past two years:
- 2025: 3,325 (January through September)
- 2024: 5,906
- 2023: 6,890
Dig deeper:
The downward trend in auto thefts is happening across Texas, but the threat remains, according to Kristen Dark with the Travis Co. Sheriff’s Office.
"Oh, it definitely doesn't mean this problem is going away," said Dark.
The TCSO is part of the Central Texas Auto Theft Task Force. Dark said the unit is still busy.
"We continue to see many Kia and Hyundai vehicles being stolen. And those are mostly stolen by juveniles. The things that we see from the professionals who are stealing cars is that they are swapping VIN numbers, and they're making fake titles," said Dark.
Those fake titles come into play with cars stolen off used sales lots and sold online. Buyers, like the original owners, get victimized.
"Oh, people absolutely get burned in that situation because the vehicle they have purchased is stolen and once we are able to ascertain the fact that they have it, we're going to seize that vehicle," said Dark.
In most cases, auto theft is simply a crime of opportunity.
"Along that line is when we see people going through the neighborhoods and pulling on car doors. They're looking for unlocked vehicles that they can steal items out of," said Dark, who added, sometimes they take a car with keys that had been left inside.
Some cases involve a betrayal of trust and creating a risky situation.
"Right, about six to eight times a year, we do get reports of people who are in a situation like the one you're reporting tonight where they met someone and allowed that someone to come home with them and when they wake up the next morning their vehicle is gone," said Dark.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski