A family tragedy over the weekend after a fatal crash on the Beltway ended with a glimmer of hope involving the family dog.
Dannel Schwartz, 77, was killed Sunday when a speeding Ford Mustang slammed into the back of his Kia minivan near Landover Road in Maryland. His wife, Suzi, and 97-year-old father were also hurt and transported to local hospitals.
Schwartz was a founding rabbi of the Temple Shir Shalom in Michigan and was driving to Florida from his home in Maine. In a post on the temple’s website, a message from other clergy reads: “Rabbi Dannel’s legacy is the relationships we treasure today. He brought us together and created a community that cares for one another. We will rely upon this in the days and weeks and years to come — and in doing so, celebrate the blessing he was to our world.”
In the commotion, their dog Snidley, who was in the car, ran away.
The Schwartz family, immediately after the accident, posted on X asking for help to find the dog. They also contacted local shelters and put up flyers around the neighborhood, but no one found Snidley.
Dannel’s son Ari Schwartz said, however, his step-mom went looking for him and miraculously found Snidley.
“She went immediately to the spot where the accident happened. She has a specific call for the dog, and she whistled and someone said that they saw the dog in the area, and she kept walking down and whistling and the dog popped out of the woods,” he said.
Ari’s wife Jen called it a small glimmer of hope.
“The situation’s not great, but we think it will be good for [Suzi] to have the dog as she mourns,” she said.
Jen said the way he was found was amazing.
“It’s just incredible after all of that, talking to all those people and doing all that work, she just went there and he came to her,” she said.
Jen added that their family is glad to have Snidley home.
“It was upsetting to think of him out there hungry and lost.”
