They were once a daily dose of happiness in his life, but now retired Preston Hollow resident Frank Landig can only speak of his cherub statues wistfully.
They were “so angelic”, he says, and so perfect where they were, together under the tree in his front yard. He called them “the three French boys” and says they were “winsome” and “lovable.” They had facial expressions like “everyone was happy.” And now they’re gone, possibly forever.
Landig says he can’t imagine any reason someone would steal the angelic statues, snatching them from his front yard in broad daylight.
“I don’t know how you would unload them for cash, but who knows?,” Landig says. “Maybe they’ve got a drug habit to support. I just wish they’d found another way.”
Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Ron Carpenter says there isn’t much of a market for stolen statues in Dallas.
“I don’t think there’s much money in stealing this sort of thing,” Carpenter says. “They probably took it for their own personal use. Often, things like this are a crime of opportunity. They see something they like, and they just take it.”
Because there’s little point in stealing lawn statues only to keep them inside, Landig believes the statues are now probably displayed in another person’s yard, possibly nearby. In a last-ditch attempt to recover them, Landig made flyers featuring a picture of the statues.
“I’ve given flyers to the termite guy who lives next door to
me, so he can keep an eye out when he’s on the job, and when I go out to lunch with the guys, I bring flyers with me.”
Landig says the lawn ornament theft is part of a neighborhood trend. Just a week before his statues were taken, he says a globe was spirited away from a yard just a block away — and weeks before that, another statue disappeared. He says such crimes are rampant, and to some extent, Carpenter agrees.
“I’d say it’s unusual for them to steal angelic children, but in general, I wouldn’t put anything that you care about outside,” Carpenter says. “It’s sad, but sometimes you can’t even have a birdbath out there. People have stolen those, flowerpots, wind chimes, big concrete lions:  You name it. They even take hoses and sprinklers.”