Well, I've got some news on Coal. Definite closure, but of course not happy news.
Someone was indeed taking care of them, but Coal was hurt. His back legs from what I understand. He may have been hit by a car.

The woman was feeding them. When Coal didn't get better, she called the pound and told them she had a hurt animal. Merlin ran off and that must be when he came home to us. Soon after that, the pound came to get Coal. They should have called me! Why didn't they call me?!!!
She saw the signs our friend put up at the college nearby, which he had added his phone # to as well. She immediately called the pound and they said they already put him to sleep.
So 3 numbers were on there, and she decided to call our friend today. He didn't answer so she left a message, and he called her back with no answer. He called me and gave me her # and I tried calling her with no answer. Soon she called my friend and told him the story. I want to talk to her myself tonight. I want to understand what happened...I'm confused as to the timeline, and I am really super angry about the pound. Apparently they don't pay any attention to the missing pet reports that people file, so what's the point? We called over the weekend when we were away and they had said they hadn't seen him. So I need to find out when they got him in there. Of course the imbiciles probably won't know what day it was.
We will probably look into getting another dog, I just don't know when and what kind we will get. I still haven't been able to get in touch with Mike to tell him. He's at work, and I'm really nervous about telling him. I think deep in our hearts we both knew though....
I'm gonna be okay though.