Dog missing for year after car crash back in Mich.

VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A Maltese dog that disappeared more than a year ago after a fatal car crash in New Mexico has been returned to surviving family members in Michigan.

The crash in June last year killed Gary Benson and his daughter, Emily. Afterward, his wife and four surviving children searched unsuccessfully for the family pet named Caesar.

Monica Benson told New Mexico's Quay County Sun she posted pictures of Caesar and her son, Benjamin, in Benjamin's hospital room while then-18-month-old recovered and he kept asking where the dog was.

A volunteer at a shelter in Tucumcari, N.M., contacted Benson after scanning a microchip in Caesar earlier this month.

He was returned to his family Saturday. Benson told The Detroit News the dog remembered her family and "it was an amazing evening."