A custody case that wrecked a small-town south Texas mayor's political career ended Thursday when she was ordered to return a Shih Tzu to her neighbors.

Grace Saenz-Lopez, the former mayor of Alice, had claimed Puddles died last year while she was pet-sitting for the neighbors. Three months later, however, a relative of the neighbors saw the dog, renamed Panchito, at a grooming business.

Saenz-Lopez insisted that Rudy Gutierrez and Shelly Cavazos had neglected the animal, but District Judge Richard Terrell in McAllen ordered her to give the dog back to the couple.

"She's broken-hearted, man," said Homero Canales, Saenz-Lopez's attorney...