Cat reunited with owner after carjacking in New York City

NEW YORK -- A woman was rear-ended and then carjacked in Manhattan on Sunday night. Her luxury sports car was gone in a flash, but it was her cat inside the car that had her worried the most.

Ronette Riley loves her Maserati.

"It had lime green calipers, lime green stitching -- it was my dream car. I worked really hard my whole life -- I wanted a dream car," Riley said.

She loves to hear its engine purr -- and she loves speed.

However, on Sunday at about 11 p.m., she was rear-ended by a black Mercedes Benz on the West Side Highway.

"It was a couple -- couldn't have been nicer. He said he was on his phone and didn't realize. They had the whole story down," said Riley.

Within two minutes, while she was distracted, someone jumped into her Maserati and sped off -- with her cat, Eilee, inside.

"I was more worried about the cat than anything. They drove away so fast. Cops got there so fast," she said.

Riley says police showed up within a minute, and they knew right away how to track her vehicle and follow it. She says officers cornered the suspects and they crashed.

Police arrested an 18-year-old and 20-year-old, but Eilee was still missing.

"I just wanted to help her as much as I could," said Riley's assistant, Paige Lundgren.

The next morning, Lundgren posted missing flyers on social media and checked animal rescue centers. Within hours, they found the cat on Facebook at the Pa'Picar restaurant a few miles north.

The employees at the restaurant knew she was not a stray.

"The cat was dressed. The cat had like a t-shirt, like a striped t-shirt. Was a hairless cat with two different color eyes. Was a very weird cat," said restaurant owner Manuel Ortega.

"So I go outside to ask the people, like you don't see nobody with a hairless cat with t-shirt? And the people started talking to me like what are you talking about, a hairless cat with a t-shirt on?" This is not gonna work man. So I posted on social media for find the owner for this cat."

Ortega said nobody believed him.

"They offered me money, but I don't see it like the right thing, like take the money," he said.

Riley is bummed about her Maserati, but was grateful to be reunited with her beloved cat.