I do think that they need to figure out if it was abuse or neglect anyway, so that if the person whom she said "owns" Nookie comes back and tries to take legal action, you have proof, and legal ownership.

If that person is real, and really away and left his dog in the care of this person, he needs to know what happened, so it could never happen again. If that person really exists, this would be horrible for him, too. Is there any way of contacting him? (If he really exists, that is.)