Lincoln woman mourns theft of wolf statue
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Every morning, Karlene Davis begins the day with a walk to her sunroom. She opens the double doors, takes in the early morning glow and peers into her rock garden, long watched over by the statue of an aluminum wolf.
It only stood about knee-high but its importance came from what it stood for.
“Everything and everybody is going to respect a wolf,” Davis said.
Last Friday night, Davis returned home after the Husker volleyball match and wanted to show a friend the statue but there was nothing to see.
“My stomach just sunk,” Davis said. “I mean, that wolf meant a lot to both my late husband and me.”
Davis said it was stolen sometime earlier that day. About 15 years ago, Davis and her late husband, John, bought the statue in Montana.
Getting it back to Nebraska was an odyssey of its own, with both Karlene and John falling very ill on the road. At one point on the interstate, Davis remembers staring at every hospital sign she passed in case they needed to make an emergency stop.
“That was an experience that, you know, nobody else can ever have or should ever have,” she said. “But, it’s a memory that just hold onto. And you look back on and think ‘yeah, we survived that struggle.’”
John died in March of 2020 from heart problems complicated by COVID-19. Now, Davis is left with an empty garden and a lonelier view from her sunroom.
“I really wish I could have it back,” she said. “I know that it will mean a lot more to me than it ever will to them.”
Davis reported the theft to Lincoln Police. If you know anything about the stolen wolf statue, you can report it to LPD’s non emergency line at 402-441-6000.
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