Marilyn Monroe Statue Sawed Off, Stolen from Hollywood Walk of Fame
Los Angeles detectives are on the hunt for whoever stole a statue of Marilyn Monroe from the top of the Four Ladies of Hollywood gazebo in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Visitors to the Walk of Fame pass through the Four Ladies of Hollywood gazebo, erected in 1994, often stopping to pose alongside the statued women.
A statue of Monroe, posed in a scene from the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch,” was balanced at the top of the gazebo.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a witness saw an unidentified person climb to the top of the Four Ladies of Hollywood gazebo sometime in the pre-dawn hours of June 17.
The suspect sawed the statue of Monroe off the top and appeared to place it into a backpack, as seen on security footage obtained by LAPD detectives.
“I am calling this the great Marilyn caper of 2019,” local Councilman Mitch O’Farrell told KNBC. “We have a witness who saw someone climb this structure and saw off the statue at the top and it’s a Marilyn Monroe image.”
“It’s not OK to come and vandalize public art,” O’Farrell said.
The thief did leave some clues behind, as Detective Douglas Oldfield with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood division said that investigators have already found some fingerprints.
There is also security footage that shows someone jumping down from the public art display and walking away with a backpack.
Two men, both wearing caps, are then seen walking into the nearby Roosevelt Hotel, opening the backpack and showing the contents to a couple inside the lobby, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Marilyn Monroe statue stolen from Hollywood Walk of Fame https://t.co/nk58tAvYfe pic.twitter.com/lNstuNplyP
— New York Post (@nypost) June 19, 2019
Investigators are determined to solve the mystery of who stole Marilyn from her perch in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“It means something to the community and we’re going to investigate this to the best of our ability,” Oldfield said.
The public artwork display celebrates women who made a significant contribution to the film and entertainment industry, including statued depictions of Dolores Del Rio, Dorothy Dandridge, Mae West and Anna May Wong.
Like many public art pieces, the Four Ladies of Hollywood gazebo has had its fair share of controversy over the years, namely for the over-sexualization of Monore peering down over the four rather similar-looking women below.
Still, the gazebo is an iconic part of the Walk of Fame, with countless visitors passing by for a photo opportunity year after year.
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