Search for escaped tortoise captivates social media audience

Jun. 18—Naomi Baker and her mom Cassandra Baker's pet tortoise, Mr. Mafia, took the city of Frederick by storm this week.

The leopard tortoise, who Naomi described as the size of a soccer ball, pushed the family's front deck gate open and slipped out Sunday, sometime between 6 and 9 p.m.

Naomi posted about the missing tortoise on the "Everything Frederick" Facebook page, and over 200 people saw and interacted with her Monday morning post. Along with the online posts, Naomi went to local businesses to put up flyers.

The 35-year-old tortoise was found and returned home Thursday by a group that was driving around and saw him crossing the street near the Frederick Fairgrounds, according to Naomi. Melissa Wells, one of the people in the group, had seen posts online and a flyer at her groomer's business.

She messaged Naomi, who left the house to call her back and saw Wells pulling up the road. Cassandra "broke down" when she saw Mr. Mafia again, she said.

She tried to offer Wells a monetary reward and was met with staunch refusal.

Cassandra has had the tortoise longer than the 31-year-old Naomi has been alive.

"I really missed him, and he's part of the family," Cassandra said.

After discovering that Mr. Mafia had gone missing, Naomi and her siblings decided to look for him on Monday morning.

They assumed he settled down nearby to sleep, Naomi said, and didn't want to alarm Cassandra yet.

When they didn't find him in the morning, Naomi texted her mom and told her, but Cassandra never saw the messages.

Cassandra didn't find out that Mr. Mafia was missing until she returned home from vacation Monday afternoon.

When Naomi told her, Cassandra said her "heart just sunk." She rushed out of the house and began searching the areas nearby, she said.

Cassandra's blue-fronted amazon parrot Freebie, who Naomi describes as her mom's "best friend of 50 years," recently died, making Mr. Mafia's adventure even more distressing for the family.

"I can't lose Mafia, too," Cassandra remembers thinking.

When she called her friend, he comforted her, telling her there's "an entire city" to lean on, Naomi said.

She took it to heart and while watching an outpouring of support, she noticed how considerate and helpful her neighbors were. She would see people out and about, all looking to see if they could spot the tortoise while on their walks.

One man, Naomi said, put up his own flyers and signs in places where she hadn't. The flyer that Wells found was one that someone else put up.

"Team Mafia was out there looking," she said.

The family moved to the city from Brunswick two years ago. Mr. Mafia was an escape artist back then, too, but it wasn't as concerning because there was less traffic.

In Brunswick, Naomi recalled, Mr. Mafia disappeared for a week, then showed up in the backyard while she was doing yardwork.

"I turn and there he's coming to me up the hill and I'm like, 'Are you done?'" she said.

The tortoise spends time outside on nice days, sunbathing on the front deck and eating his meals while having access to shady areas and fresh air. He waddles across the deck, much faster than expected, and climbs over anything that gets in his way.

Mr. Mafia used to have a penned in area in the backyard, but the family recently got chickens that took over the space.

Since the chickens arrived, Mr. Mafia sleeps inside the house in his basement den. Naomi lets him out every morning to hang out on the front deck, checking on him every hour.

Since moving, he has attempted to escape, but was quickly found and returned after trying to sneak into the neighbor's garden.

The family installed barriers to prevent his escape, including cinder blocks and bricks in front of the deck's gate that he can't push open.

The neighbors, she said, were understanding during both incidents, allowing Naomi to walk through and search their backyards when Mr. Mafia went missing this week.

The family's hope began to wane as the days passed and they hadn't found Mr. Mafia. Naomi searched the fairgrounds multiple times, looked in the nearby brush, and even checked sewer drains.

"I know every fence line, every hole, and every piece of litter," she said.

Since the escape, Naomi has been more paranoid, saying she found herself looking around for him while coming home from physical therapy. She worries a little each time he moves around the front deck.

The tortoise was happy to be home, and wiggled his legs as soon as he saw Cassandra and Naomi.

Without him, "nothing would have been right," Naomi said.