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Woman credits dog for saving her from possible abduction in Deltona

DELTONA, Fla. — A Volusia County woman said her dog saved her life from a stranger who tried to abduct her during a walk in a neighborhood.

Deanna Moore said she was walking her dog, a 14-year-old golden retriever named Sandy, at about 9 p.m. Friday in a Deltona neighborhood near Manitoba and Hemingway streets, when she said she heard a car pull up behind her on a street. At first she did not think anything of it.

“The street lights are not very well lit down there,” Moore said.

She said a man got out and she felt him grab her around the waist.

“I've heard stories like this before, where they approach a woman and say something to them, but he just grabbed me,” Moore said.

That's when she said Sandy sprang into action and began tugging her away from the man.

The dog then broke loose and Moore said she ran after Sandy--and to safety.

“God knows what could have happened after that,” said Moore. “Sandy was my guardian angel that night.”

Moore ran with the dog to her fiance’s mother's house a short distance away and they called 911.

She said she did not get a good look at the man, but remembers he wore heavy cologne and drove a navy blue hatchback.

“I distinctly remember the nautical tattoo. It was a blueish green, and it was on his hand right here. It was like a smaller size,” Moore said.

Deputies searched the area for the man but did not find anything.

Moore said she and her boyfriend went out the next day to see if they could spot the car in the neighborhood, but they could not find it.