Lost Lizard Named For Blackbeard's Wife Reunited With Owner Thanks To Fairfax City Police

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — A missing bearded dragon was reunited with its owner on Wednesday thanks to the intervention of the City of Fairfax Police.

On Tuesday, Officer Emerson trapped the lizard in a city resident's garden off of Richard Avenue and transported it to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter.

The lizard's owner, Everett Vann Eberhardt II, saw a social media post with a picture of Emerson holding his missing reptile, Mary Ormand.

"She's named after the famous pirate Blackbeard's wife, as she had a partner with a black beard when I first adopted her," he said.

After contacting the shelter, Eberhardt said planned to pick her up on Wednesday.

"She escaped from the Fairfax Villa neighborhood and travelled all the way to Fairfax City, it took her approximately a week to get there," he told Patch on Wednesday morning. "Although she runs free, often, in the yard she would always come home and we assume she lost her way and couldn't find her home on Melissa Court."

During that week, Mary Ormand traveled approximately 3 miles from Eberhardt's yard to the garden of a homeowner on Richard Avenue.

"Until OFC Emerson captured her, she'd been on a great adventure through the City of Fairfax," Eberhardt said.