More than 50 people showed up Friday morning at the Pima Animal Care Center, 4000 N. Silverbell Road, to adopt a miniature Chihuahua owned by a homeless woman who was found slain behind a Downtown law office earlier this week.
Lillian R. Wright, 69, better known as Sunshine, was a "beautiful spirit" who was loved by everyone she met, said her close friend Robert Lundquist. Lundquist is a lawyer who did some pro bono work for Sunshine.
People working at the law offices at 405 W. Franklin St., near North Granada Avenue, found Sunshine behind the office lying in a pool of blood.
"It was clearly a very violent death," said lawyer Larry Hecker, who works in one of the law offices.
Police had made no arrests, nor had they released information about any suspects in the case Thursday, said Sgt. Decio Hopffer, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.
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Sunshine slept behind the law office for the last 12 or 15 years, Hecker said. She would rise about 8 a.m. and walk through Downtown's El Presidio Neighborhood. Her constant companion, a miniature Chihuahua, was found by police after she died and was taken into the custody of Pima Animal Care.
So many people wanted to adopt the dog that Animal Care had a lottery after being unable to find Sunshine's next of kin in the Tucson area, said Gerardo Sanchez, Animal Care's enforcement-operations manager.
The dog is being spayed, and the owner will have to pay the adoption fees, Sanchez said.
Sanchez would not identify the new owner, and immediate contact could not be made.
