Ebright, a bit worse for the wear (Photo: San Leandro Police Department)

One night in early January, UC Berkeley crew coach Carroll “Ky” Ebright went missing from the college’s boathouse in Oakland. Ebright had coached the men’s crew team from 1924 to 1959, with three of his teams taking home gold medals at the Olympics. He died in 1979, but for years a life-size, 300-pound bronze statue of the coach stood at the boathouse, megaphone in hand.

Ebright, as he was meant to be (Photo: UCPD)

After the statue vanished, police put out a call to find it, and started broadcasting pictures all over the news. And, a few days later, police in the nearby city of San Leandro found the Ebright statue. 

Only, it was missing a few parts.

The police stopped to investigate a truck with expired registration, parked in a closed storage facility. But in the bed of the truck, they found “the upper torso of the readily identifiable statue,” the department said in a press release. The statue, though, was headless and footless. It also had deep cuts on its chest and megaphone, as if someone had kept working after cutting off the head and feet. 

Next door, they found a deep hole in a backyard. It was three feet wide and three feet deep. Inside, were the head and feet.

The police arrested the man in whose backyard they found the hole: he was on probation for previous convictions, and police suggested he may have intended to sell the metal as scrap.

The statue has been returned to Berkeley, but is in need of some serious surgery. 

Bonus finds: David Bowie doing amazing impersonations, a burial ground in Harlem

Every day, we highlight one newly lost or found object, curiosity or wonder. Discover something unusual or amazing? Tell us about it! Send your finds to sarah.laskow@atlasobscura.com.