Linda Folino hopes the extradition Tuesday of a man accused of carjacking her father in East Huntingdon and stealing his dog Lucky brings some closure to the family.

“We just want to know what happened to Lucky,” Folino said.

State police hope they can find out.

Troopers planned to interview Kenneth W. Crider, 44, in an effort to determine where Lucky might have been left between Westmoreland County and North Carolina where he was arrested after a 40-mile police chase. Crider was flown on a state police airplane Tuesday from a North Carolina jail back to Pennsylvania to face charges in connection with the carjacking.

“Hopefully we’re going to be able to get more information about the whereabouts of Lucky; it’s up to him whether he cooperates or not when we try and interview him,” said Trooper Steve Limani.

Crider did not respond to questions from reporters when he was led into the state police station near Greensburg.

His bail was set at $100,000 and he was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison. A preliminary hearing is set for April 16. Crider did not have an attorney listed in online court records.

He is accused of carjacking 87-year-old Willard Martz, of Donegal Township, on Sept. 23 in an East Huntingdon shopping plaza. When Martz parked at the Tractor Supply store and headed inside, leaving a window open for 10-year-old Airedale terrier Lucky, police said, Crider came up behind him and grabbed the car keys out of his pocket.

Crider, of Maryland, was on the run until being apprehended in North Carolina Sept. 28 following a 130 mph chase and crash in the stolen car on Interstate 95, Limani said. Lucky was not in the car.

Crider has been held at a North Carolina jail since his arrest on charges related to the police chase and crash, which remain pending. He was returned to Pennsylvania where he is charged with robbery, theft and receiving stolen property in connection with the carjacking.

State police worked with authorities in North Carolina to get him extradited Tuesday, more than six months after the incident in Westmoreland County.

“It took longer than we were hoping,” Limani said.

In the months since the carjacking, a Facebook group dedicated to finding Lucky has exploded with more than 14,000 members. Users from numerous states have banded together to post flyers, conduct searches, spread the word on social media and cull through missing dog reports up and down the East Coast in hopes of finding the right one.

Folino said her father has received poems, letters, cards and an oil painting of Lucky.

“It really does make my dad feel a little better,” she said. “This has really taken a toll on him.”

Limani said he hopes Crider is willing to cooperate with troopers, calling Lucky’s disappearance the most disappointing part of the case.

“He could’ve made the decision to let that dog go or he could’ve dropped the dog off almost anywhere where there’s some type of people. … He had lots of opportunities to do something to alleviate the stress that this family is going through, and the dog,” Limani said.

Anyone with information on Lucky’s whereabouts is asked to call state police at 724-832-3288, 911 or send a tip to the Bring Lucky HOME to PA Facebook group.

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