The drama came to an end early Tuesday morning, however, when Kasino posted a video to Instagram of Blitz being returned to some members of Whitehead’s entourage. Kasino suggested in the video’s caption that Whitehead had not paid his alleged debt, but said he talked to Whitehead and “everythang good.”

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Whitehead, meanwhile, confirmed the dog’s return by posting a video of Blitz on his Snapchat account early Tuesday.

It does not appear that Whitehead plans to press charges.

The incident appeared to cause the 25-year-old mental anguish, however.

In his Instagram post on Sunday, Whitehead shared a photo of Blitz and the “heartbreaking” news that his dog was stolen a week previously. “It’s tough,” Whitehead told Dallas’s NBC 5 on Monday. “I mean, I just got the dog, but he was close to me.

“We pretty much went everywhere together, we hung out all the time.”

Whitehead, whose given first name is Rodney, was born and raised in Manassas and attended Osbourn High before playing at Dean College and Florida Atlantic. Signed by the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2015, Whitehead was used primarily as a kick returner in his first two seasons.

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He said he was in Florida on July 9, when a friend who was pet-sitting sent him texts asking whether he had sent someone to pick up his dog. When informed that Blitz was missing, Whitehead got on the next available flight to Dallas, where he was told that along with his dog, the thieves had taken two pairs of shoes “and some bags.”

While still at a Fort Lauderdale airport, Whitehead was contacted by the thieves, who asked how much the dog meant to him. They went “back and forth” over the ransom amount before, in a subsequent call, the thieves demanded $10,000.

Whitehead said he refused to pay the $10,000 but told the thieves he would give them “some cash,” which they indicated they would accept. But he said he hasn’t heard from them since then, and police told him that the calls came from an untraceable “burner” phone.

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“It’s killing me,” Whitehead told the station. “It hurts because I don’t know how he’s being treated. I wasn’t here to protect him. It’s sickening.”

Whitehead said his friend had been “picked up” from his home, and that the person who showed up “came with somebody extra.” He said he thought the theft was “planned” and an “inside job,” but while he is “checking everybody,” he doesn’t know who did it and didn’t want to “point any fingers the wrong way.”

“The damage is done — as long as my dog’s okay, I just want my dog back,” Whitehead told NBC 5. “Everything else they took, more power to them.”