Jacob Augustine was banged up and his minivan was totaled, but the worst thing about his crash near Medway on Sunday would turn out to be losing his dog.
The 38-year-old folk singer was traveling north on I-95 when his minivan went off the road near mile marker 239 at 1 p.m. Marvin, a German shepherd and greyhound mix, was thrown clear of the vehicle as it rolled over.
“Witnesses said he was ejected right out the window,” Augustine said Monday.
Augustine and several friends have been trying to capture Marvin ever since, but the 7-year-old, who also answers to Marvy, is too skittish to allow himself to be captured — a potentially dangerous aversion for a rescue animal from a shelter in Cozumel, Mexico, Augustine said.
“He hates the cold. He is a short-haired dog. I know that he is bleeding because there was blood in his tracks,” Augustine said Monday. “Yeah. I am concerned.”
Augustine — whose given name is McLaughlin — was headed to his home in Stockholm in Aroostook County with the dog when the minivan hit black ice, he said.
Augustine was taken to Penobscot Valley Hospital for treatment, so he could not try to corral Marvin until he was released from the hospital, he said.
A Maine State Police dispatcher confirmed the crash but did not provide details.
Augustine and his sister, Sarah McLaughlin, asked for the public’s help catching Marvin, she said. Her Facebook post featuring the dog had been shared 1,263 times as of 5 p.m. Monday.
They and their friends fear that the storm expected Tuesday will make it more difficult for Marvin to survive. About 8 to 12 inches of heavy snow is expected to accumulate inland starting overnight, with the greater Bangor area getting 4 to 8 inches.
“He is a dog that likes to be under the blankets in August,” said Kelly Ryder, a Lincoln resident and friend of Augustine’s.
Marvin, a German shepherd-greyhound mix, is missing along Interstate 95 near Medway’s mile marker 239. Anyone who sees him is asked to call 207-290-3457.
Marvin was last seen Sunday at about 3:30 p.m. East Millinocket resident Danielle Willigar said she came upon him sitting alongside the road about 100 feet from the “239” mile marker, but she couldn’t coax him into her pickup truck.
“He got up, looked at me and went back down to the trees,” Willigar said.
Ryder came along and she and Willigar’s husband, Chris Willigar, searched the woods for him in the dusk light. When it became too dark to continue, the Willigars and two friends grabbed small spotlights and searched for another 1½ hours. Sunday night’s snowstorm forced them to stop, Danielle Willigar said.
“We had to leave because we were in the way of the plows,” she said.
They left meatballs and other food out for the dog, McLaughlin said.
Anyone who sees Marvin is asked to call McLaughlin at 207-290-3457.
This article originally appeared on www.bangordailynews.com.
