Little Mermaid statue recovered

SALT LAKE CITY — The Little Mermaid is back at Salt Lake City's International Peace Gardens. Now, investigators are trying to figure out if it really went anywhere.

A 3-foot tall, bronze sculpture is an official replica — one of only four ever made — of a famous Danish statue of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid. The replica was reported stolen Feb. 26 from the Peace Gardens at Jordan Park, 1000 S. 900 West.

This week, a worker found the statue hidden in dense shrubs in another part of the gardens known as the Italy Gardens, bordering the Jordan Parkway, said Salt Lake police detective Pat Wilkinson.

"There's no way to tell if it was there the whole time or someone brought it back," he said.

The statue, which weighs between 75 and 100 pounds, suffered some minor scratches, possibly from being dragged, but was otherwise in good condition, Wilkinson said. It is worth approximately $28,000.

There were no leads Wednesday as to who may have taken the statue, which was mounted to a rock base before it was stolen. Wilkinson said it appeared the vandal used other rocks to knock the statue off its base.

Salt Lake City's parks division had raised money in an effort to offer a reward to get the statue back, Wilkinson said. That money will now be used to fix the statue.

— Pat Reavy