Latest news with #statueTheft
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
Have you seen this bronze eagle statue missing from downtown Orlando?
A bronze eagle statue is missing from downtown Orlando and police are asking for help from the public to find it. The statue was stolen during a break-in at a law firm near East Pine Street & South Court Avenue owned by a 'well-respected attorney who recently passed away,' according to a Friday news release from the Orlando Police Department. The agency said the statue was last seen April 19 near East Pine Street and South Court Avenue but did not identify the law firm by name or its owner. Detectives believed the suspects dumped it at a specific location but it was no longer there when they searched the area. 'The statue holds deep sentimental value for the attorney's widow, and efforts are underway to recover it,' police said. OPD didn't provide any additional details of the incident in its news release: 'This is all the information we have to share at this time.' Investigators ask anyone who witnessed anything suspicious or have any information about the statue's whereabouts to please call OPD's tip line at 800-423-TIPS.
ABC News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Statue of Melania Trump stolen near US first lady's Slovenian hometown
Police in Slovenia are investigating the disappearance of a bronze statue of the United States's first lady, Melania Trump, which was sawed off at the feet and carried away from her hometown. The life-size sculpture near Sevnica in central Slovenia, where Melanija Knavs was born in 1970, was unveiled in 2020 during US President Donald Trump's first term in office. It replaced a wooden statue that had been set on fire earlier that year. Police spokesperson Alenka Drenik Rangus said on Friday that the police were informed about the theft of the statue on Tuesday. She said police were working to track down those responsible. According to Slovenian media reports and the statue's creator, American conceptual artist Brad Downey, the bronze replica was sawed off at the ankles and removed. Franja Kranjc, who works at a bakery in Sevnica which sells cakes with Ms Trump's name in support of the first lady, said the stolen statue would not be missed. "So I think it's OK that it's removed." The original wooden statue was torched in July 2020. The rustic figure was cut from the trunk of a linden tree by local artist Ales Zupevc and showed the first lady in a pale blue dress like the one she wore at Mr Trump's presidential inauguration in 2017. Mr Downey said he learnt about the theft while preparing a new project in Germany and he was "a bit sad that it's gone". "My feeling [is] that it has something to do with the new election [of Donald Trump], but who knows, right?" he said. Mr Downey added that when the original statue was burnt "it didn't feel right", so he decided to replace it with a bronze copy which he has described as an "anti-monument, anti-propaganda". Ms Trump's arrival in the White House when her husband became president raised hope he might one day visit her homeland, something that has yet to happen. The first lady left the EU-member nation when it was still part of communist Yugoslavia. In Sevnica, some 90 kilometres east of the capital Ljubljana, she has inspired numerous products, including cakes and chocolates, named after her. The replica bronze statue has no obvious resemblance with the first lady. AFP/AP
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Bronze statue of Melania Trump is hacked off at the ankles and stolen in her homeland Slovenia - five years after wooden version was torched
A bronze statue of First Lady Melania Trump has been chopped off at the ankles and stolen in her Slovenian hometown, five years after a wooden version of the sculpture was set alight. The life-sized bronze of the US first lady was unveiled in her native Sevnica in 2020, towering over a field on a tree stump, after arson destroyed the previous wooden statue. According to police and the bronze's creator, American conceptual artist Brad Downey, the statue was chopped off at the ankles and carted away. 'The theft was reported on May 13 and immediately police officers visited the crime scene and launched an investigation,' police spokeswoman Alenka Drenik Rangus said on Thursday. Downey said he learnt about the theft while preparing a new project in Germany and said he was 'a bit sad that it's gone'. 'My feeling (is) that it has something to do with the new election (of Donald Trump), but who knows, right?' Downey told AFP. He added when the original statue had been burnt 'it didn't feel right' so he decided to replace it with a bronze copy, which he has described as an 'anti-monument, anti-propaganda'. The original statue featuring a blue dress and heels had been carved with a chainsaw by local artist Ales Zupevc out of a tree. The bronze statue was placed on a private field - fixed with concrete and metal bars - near Sevnica toward the end of Donald Trump's first term as US president, while he was campaigning for re-election. Melania's arrival in the White House when her husband Donald became US president raised hope he may one day visit her homeland, which has yet to happen. Melania left the EU member of two million when it was still part of communist Yugoslavia. In Sevnica, some 60 miles east of the capital Ljubljana, she has inspired numerous products, including cakes and chocolates, named after her. But she has rarely mentioned Slovenia in her public appearances, and has not visited the small central European country since Trump's inauguration. It comes after the original wooden sculpture of Melania was torched back in 2020. The life-sized statue was left blackened and disfigured on its plinth near Sevnica, Slovenia, on July 4 - when Americans celebrated US Independence Day. The statue was erected in July 2019 to highlight Melania's status as an immigrant married to an anti-immigration president.
