When Jonathan Padget joined the Postmaster General Heroes’ Program team last year, he embraced the opportunity to help promote the heroic acts of USPS employees.
He just never thought he’d see himself in “Heroes’ corner.”
But in late December, Padget became part of a dramatic Washington, DC, missing-person case.
Local actress Tricia McCauley disappeared on her way to a Christmas party. Police later urged the public to keep an eye out for a suspect who was reportedly driving McCauley’s car.
While walking his dog, Daisy, the next evening, Padget happened to check Facebook on his phone and saw a newly released photo of the suspect.
Minutes later, Padget and Daisy — dubbed “an unlikely detective duo” in a subsequent report on the TV series “Crime Watch Daily” — encountered the suspect as he was sitting in the driver’s seat of McCauley’s parked car.
Padget and the man briefly exchanged words before he drove off. Padget alerted police, who soon located the suspect a few blocks away.
Tragically, police also found McCauley’s body hidden in the car. The suspect was charged with first-degree murder and other crimes.
“It was a harrowing experience,” Padget said.
“I’m grateful to have helped Tricia’s family and friends get closure, and to have helped keep others out of danger. And I certainly have an even greater appreciation now for the life-or-death moments that are part of many PMG Heroes’ stories.”