St. Paul police recovered a stolen bronze statue of Olympic gymnast Suni Lee early Friday morning while responding to an unrelated call [1].
The recovery marks the end of a long-term theft involving a public monument dedicated to one of the most prominent athletes in the region. The incident highlights a random intersection of two separate criminal investigations in the city.
Officers were investigating reports of shots fired when they discovered the bronze bust [3]. The gunfire call was unrelated to the original theft of the artwork [4]. The statue had been stolen from Phalen Regional Park, also known as Lake Phalen [5].
According to reports, the statue had been missing for more than one year [1]. The monument serves as a tribute to Lee's achievements in gymnastics, and her connection to the St. Paul community.
Following the recovery of the artwork, police arrested one man in connection with the theft [2]. Authorities did not immediately release the identity of the suspect or the specific charges filed in the case.
Police have not detailed how the statue came to be at the location of the shots-fired call. The recovery process occurred during the early morning hours of Friday [1].
“The statue had been missing for more than a year.”
The recovery of the Suni Lee statue demonstrates how unrelated police activity can resolve cold cases of public art theft. Because the bust had been missing for over a year, its discovery during a violent crime response suggests the item had been moved or stored in a location that would not have been searched otherwise.
