Ralph Roberts, a Marine Veteran, lives alone with Leia, his Labrador yellow, in Stevens County Washington. In mid-July, he hired a neighbor’s 16-year-old son to help with some chores around his house, but things turned ugly when it came time to pay up. When the boy asked for his money, Roberts argued that he hadn’t done a good job washing the dishes and refused to pay the $10 an hour they had agreed to. The boy returned home, and when he told his father, John Louis Price Jr., what happened, the two returned to Roberts’ house to get compensation some other way.
Roberts was told by Price that there was something in his house that he wanted to show.
Roberts, a 69-year-old man, is in poor health. He is usually able to walk with assistance, but he needs an oxygen tank. But, trusting his neighbor, he agreed to go to Price’s home a quarter-mile away. Roberts was helped by Price and his son, but they didn’t lead him to the house. Instead, they took Roberts down into a ravine.
Roberts became scared when he realized they weren’t taking him to the promised place. He knew he wouldn’t have the ability to return home alone so he begged for help. Price, however, pretended to not hear him, stole him, and then walked off. Roberts said KXLY:
“I said, ‘Y’all are planning on leaving me down here to die.’ And he wouldn’t speak to me or nothing. He wouldn’t even give me a hello or nothing and that’s what they did.”
Roberts was left in the middle, helpless by Price and his boy. Roberts was fortunate to have Leia there.
“I didn’t want to die.”
Roberts couldn’t walk so he spent days screaming for help. He crawled through the woods, trying to get as far as possible. He was stuck in the woods and temperatures reached almost 100 degrees. Roberts had to drink swampwater to survive.
“Oh God, I crawled a very, very long ways. Putting me out there in those mountains really did hurt me bad and I don’t want to ever want to go through that again.”
But he wasn’t alone. Leia was always by his side.
Three days after Price had abandoned him to die, Roberts turned to Leia and told her to go find his landlord, Roy “Tag” Canfield.
“The last day I said ‘Look, you have to go find Tag. We’re both going to die right here.’”
Understanding, Leia ran back toward home – where Canfield lives next door. He saw Leia alone and realized that something was wrong.
“Things just didn’t look right up there, and that wasn’t Ralph. He never went around, left his dog out and stuff.”
In the middle of the night, Canfield called police, explaining that he hadn’t seen Roberts in several days and requested a welfare check.
Roberts was in serious trouble when deputies arrived. His front door was left open, and his cars were also ransacked. The property was searched by the deputies, who heard a faint, distant cry for help.
Roberts, who was only a quarter mile away in the ravine, was still breathing and exhausted enough to call for help. Stevens County Deputies Peterson, Stearns and a helicopter followed his footsteps to find him on the ground. He was cold and tired. He was wearing only sweatpants, without shoes or a shirt.
“I thought it was a dream. I knew I was going home.”
Roberts was taken by the deputies to receive immediate medical attention. They took his statements and arrested Price the following day after determining that he was unable to make it into the woods by himself.
Price denies having anything to do with Roberts’ disappearance. Price claims he searched for Roberts in local hospitals and once visited his landlord to check for Roberts. He is currently in prison and being charged with attempted killing.
If it wasn’t for Leia this story could have ended in a more sad way. Loyal to her man, Leia was loyal and always helped him. Roberts might not have been found without her.
“And that’s what saved my life, is that dog.”
[hlm_blog_fb_share_text]
