If Liz Kane had known she was about to receive an Amazon package, she would’ve let her dog in from the yard.

Instead, she says the delivery person left the gate open, allowing the animal, named Gerry, to run onto Morrissey Boulevard where he was hit and killed by a car.

Despite the tragedy, Kane is grateful that two strangers went out of their way to help Gerry in his final moments.

Kane was at home in Dorchester on Wednesday evening when she received a text message from Amazon saying a packaged had been delivered.

She knew that Gerry was out in the yard and immediately thought, “Uh oh.”


“The gate was definitely shut. I had just put the dog out there,” Kane told Boston.com. “After the text, the gate was definitely open.”

She called her husband, who was down the street at an ice rink with their two older sons, and they walked around looking for Gerry. Kane also posted on Facebook asking if anyone had seen him.

A “complete stranger” called her, she said, about a photo that had been posted on the Nextdoor app. Kane immediately recognized Gerry in the photo, which showed a man holding an injured dog.

Because Gerry had only been wearing a basic tag without the family’s name and phone number, Kane says she started calling local veterinarians to see where the stranger brought him. They discovered Gerry had been taken to MSPCA-Angell, but that he passed away prior to arrival at the hospital

On Thursday, Kane posted the picture taken of the stranger on Facebook and her husband, Kevin, posted on Twitter to try to track down the Good Samaritan. Within 15 minutes, someone recognized Conor Boyle, “a friend of a friend.”

“Dorchester, our area, is just a small tight-knit community with good people,” Kane said.

The Kanes eventually learned that when Gerry was struck in a hit-and-run on Morrissey, a block from their home, a woman named Sarah Walsh exited her car to help him.


“She pulled over, stopped traffic, (and) got the dog on the side of the road,” Kane said.

“That’s when Conor Boyle — that’s the one who brought the dog to MSPCA — pulled over and saw her with her kids,” she continued. “He pulled over with his mom and was there to comfort Gerry.”

Kane texted Boyle her gratitude, calling him “selfless.”

“He said, ‘I didn’t do much. Sarah Walsh is really the hero here. She stopped traffic.’ He was very humble,” Kane said. “He did let me know the dog had no pain near the end. That was really nice to hear.”

The family had adopted the Jack Russell terrier mix from Sweet Paws Rescue on the North Shore a little over a year ago.

Kane says her older two sons, ages 6 and 10, are upset, saying “‘All I want for Christmas is my dog back.'”

Her younger two sons, ages 1 and 2, usually fed the dog their breakfast.

“Today when they were feeding, they looked for the dog and he wasn’t there,” Kane said.

Though Kane has spoken with Amazon’s customer service on the phone and Amazon’s help account replied on her husband’s Twitter thread, she worries about how seriously the company will take the incident.

We take these matters very seriously, and I'd like my team to look into this. When you get a chance, please send us more details at this secure link: https://t.co/7Vy5EiNcCH ^CC — Amazon Help (@AmazonHelp) November 17, 2017

“I don’t want them to blow it off,” she said. “This is package delivery season. This could happen anywhere. All our neighbors have dogs. This could happen to anyone. I just don’t want this to happen again.”


An Amazon spokesman provided the following statement to Boston.com on Friday evening:

“Our heart goes out to the family. We are in touch with family to support them during this difficult time and are working closely with our delivery service provider to understand what occurred.”