STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- On Sunday afternoon, 9-year old Anthony Valois left his bike in front of his house in Richmond to go inside for a glass of water.

A few moments later, his bike was gone.

"He was heartbroken," his mom, Laura Kuka-Valois, 39, said. "He saved money to pay for the bike himself. He wouldn't stop crying."

The mom decided to help her son, sharing pictures of the bike on her Facebook page, as well as the community watch page of Community Education Council President Michael Reilly, with the hope of spreading the word.

"He has a very distinctive bike so I thought sharing pictures on Facebook would help," Kuka-Valois said. "People started messaging me saying that they saw the bike in the proximity of Giffords Glen."

Kuka-Valois and her son started driving around the area in Great Kills trying to spot the bike and asking other people if they had seen it.

"I was not going to buy him another bike," the mother said. "That wouldn't have taught him anything. So I decided to drive around the area."

After an entire day spent in the car, Kuka-Valois saw some hope.

A man working at one of the businesses on Giffords Glen told her he knew the name of a boy he saw with her son's bike, she said.

Kuka-Valois searched for the person on Facebook and contacted a friend they had in common.

That virtual friend helped Anthony, and on Monday afternoon, just one day after the theft, the bike was back in Anthony's arms.

"My son was so happy," Kuka-Valois said. "He hugged the person who helped us and they both started crying for how happy there were."

It was not immediately clear what happened to the boy who was found with the bike.