After more than a week, a Tennessee couple involved in a semi-truck crash outside of Rawlins still has not found their missing Boston Terrier.
On Dec. 9, Daniel and Sheryl Billiau were involved in a crash when a vehicle pulling a flatbed trailer cut off Daniel Billiau’s semi-truck on Interstate 80 near Rawlins, causing the truck to roll with the couple and their three dogs, Roxy, Boo and Yogi, inside.
Sheryl Billiau suffered several injuries, including one to her left eye that has left her without sight in that eye, at least for the time being.
“My mom and my husband said I’ve been talking in my sleep about the accident, having full-blown conversations and I don’t remember any of it,” Sheryl Billiau told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
Sheryl also has nerve damage on her left side and a wound on her right leg from the crash. She also is experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
It is difficult for her to deal with the aftermath of the crash, as Sheryl has always been an independent person, she said. Now, she has have to her mother and husband help with most things, at least until she can get in to see doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
“I’m at my lowest, and what’s made me more angry than anything is the person who caused this,” she said. “They do this and then leave. How do you do that to somebody?”
The driver who cut off the Billiaus has not yet been found, but the couple is hoping the company that employed Daniel Billau will be able to find the driver soon using footage from a dashboard camera installed in Daniel’s truck.
As someone who has been driving trucks for nearly 15 years, Sheryl has respect for other drivers on the road, because she tries to keep in mind the impact on the families of drivers if she were to cause a crash.
The couple has not heard any word about their beloved 4-year-old Boston Terrier Yogi, who disappeared following the crash. The last the couple heard, he was headed east on I-80 around mile marker 229.
“If someone found him and he’s happy, we’re not going to put him through even more trauma by making him come home,” Sheryl said. “But we just want to know if he’s alive or dead. Of course, we would love to have him back home, but we just want to know what happened.”
The Billiaus’ other two dogs, Roxy and Boo, have not been the same since the crash and the disappearance of their brother, but the family is hoping to take the next few days and weeks will allow for both physical and emotional healing.
“I’m as OK as I can be right now,” Sheryl said.
Daniel Billiau thanked the city of Rawlins for being so caring toward him, his wife and their dogs during their time in the community following the crash.
The family arrived in Tennessee on Monday, but continue to hold out hope they will hear something about Yogi before too long.
