A 200-pound 'Shrek' statue was stolen from its home. Tracking it down is no fairy tale for police.
The great 2023 Shrek-napping has police stumped.
More than a week out and the 200-pound, 3-feet-tall statue of the famous toon, swiped from the side of the road in Hatfield, Mass., is still missing.
The rendering of the ogre — who has delighted moviegoers since DreamWorks released the Oscar-winning animated comedy Shrek back in 2001 featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and John Lithgow — was owned by someone with a home nearby. In Hatfield, a town of 3,300 outside Springfield, the oversized, neon-green monument had become an unofficial local landmark.
"The homeowner is a creative person," Officer Monica Lavallee of the Hatfield Police Department tells Yahoo Entertainment. "He had created it on his own, and it cost him about $500 to make it. Living in this wooded area, he displayed [Shrek] out along the roadside, but set back off the road to where it was safe, and it’s just become this icon on the street that many people know about, because the road leads up into the mountains and it is a common hiking spot, and also leads to a Christmas tree farm, so it gets a lot of business certain times of year."
And how could you not notice the star of Shrek, a franchise that has continued over the years, via sequels, spinoffs, TV shows, games and all the merch that comes with it? He'd been there for almost two years, during which he often displayed decorations for whichever holiday was coming up.
The owner had displayed Shrek next to a statue of Dragon — a foe-turned-friend in the franchise — but it "was not touched."
Lavallee said police had been hopeful that a Facebook post would bring in some tips, but there haven't been many.
"We had one person who lives close by mention that they had heard a vehicle at the early hours of the morning, the day prior to it being reported missing," she said. "Given the fact that this is a desolate area and not a commonly traveled road, it leads up into the mountains, more than likely it could correlate to the incident. Unfortunately, they didn't have any firm details to pass along that would give us any further leads."
The investigation is ongoing, although Shrek's location off the roadway means that video footage from a nearby doorbell camera, or any camera, has been elusive. Although it has received plenty of attention; after all, Shrek is famous worldwide.
"We had some people reach out in a joking manner that know about the fairytale and have made comments like, 'Oh, maybe he went off to the swamp. Did you check there?'" Lavallee said. "And so we’ve just been replying, there were clear [track] marks in the snow where it was taken, so we're just saying that, it's clear that Shrek did not go willingly."
Still, this crime is very real.
"All joking aside, somebody did lose a piece of property that they would like back and, hopefully, maybe in this going so viral, maybe the person or people who took it will feel obligated to bring it back," Lavallee said.
Those who have any information are encouraged to contact the department, either on Facebook or by phone at (413) 247-0323. No fables, please.
