Police Find Burned Remains of Jackie Robinson Statue

Fire crews found the burned remnants Tuesday of a prized bronze statue of Jackie Robinson that was stolen last week from a public park in Kansas, authorities said. The Wichita fire department received a call around 8:40am about a trash can on fire at Garvey Park in the southern part of the city and discovered what appeared to be pieces of the statue, according to police spokesperson Andrew Ford. At a news conference Tuesday, he described it as "not salvageable," the AP reports The statue, which was cut at the figure's ankles, went missing Thursday morning. It honors the first player to break Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947.

"If it turns out it was racially motivated, then obviously that is a deeper societal issue and it certainly would make this a much more concerning theft," said Bob Lutz, executive director of the Little League nonprofit that commissioned the sculpture. "We'll wait and see what this turns out to be." League 42, which is named after Robinson's Dodgers number, paid about $50,000 for the statue, which was installed in 2021 in McAdams Park, where roughly 600 children play in the youth baseball league. The police spokesperson said that with assistance from arson investigators, they have conducted more than 100 interviews. Surveillance video shows two people hauling the sculpture away in the dark, to a truck that was later found abandoned

"It's really disheartening to see the remnants of the statue and the disgraceful way in which it has been disrespected," Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said, describing the discovery of it as a "direct indication of the pressure" the perpetrators felt from the ongoing investigation. "There will be arrests, but we're going to make sure that when we do, we will have a solid case," he said, adding that for anyone involved in the theft, "it is only a matter of time." Lutz said there will be a new statue installed that will look exactly like the old one, which was made by his friend, the artist John Parsons, before his death. He said the mold is still viable. Council Member Brandon Johnson described the statue as a "symbol of hope" and said donations for the replacement are coming from local businesses and through an online fundraiser. (More Jackie Robinson stories.)