‘Brazen’ thieves steal bronze statue that stood at entrance to Bonney Lake for 30 years

A bronze statue that has stood high on a stone plinth for decades welcoming state Route 410 motorists to Bonney Lake was stolen last week and likely will never be seen again.

“The Ascent” by Bonney Lake sculptor Larry Anderson was commissioned by the city and became its de facto logo on city stationery. The sculpture was of a boy reaching upward to a flock of birds.

Sometime overnight on Aug. 24-25, thieves cut wire protecting the statue at Ascent Park, drove a vehicle up to a landscaped site, cut a hole through cedars, climbed up the 10-foot-tall plinth and used a heavy duty saw to cut through bolts securing the artwork. Judging by a gouged trough between the trees, the thieves dragged the statue until they could lift it into a getaway vehicle.

Anderson died in 2018. For his widow, Sharilyn Anderson, the thieves might as well have used a knife instead of a saw.

“With Larry, there was this sense that he had a legacy that would live on,” she said. “To have it desecrated was heartbreaking. For me it was a knife taking away his legacy.”

City response

Bonney Lake first learned of the theft from a citizen’s email on Aug. 25, according to city administrator John Vodopich. A crew dispatched to the scene confirmed the theft and filed a police report, he said.

He called Sharilyn Anderson.

“It was a gut wrench,” she said Thursday. “I felt slapped. It was more trauma, more loss. I was outraged. I couldn’t believe it.”

According to Vodopich, police recovered a reciprocating saw blade and a battery pack, presumably used in the saw. Beyond that, police have little to go on.

It will be the City Council’s decision on what actions to take following the theft, he said. The next meeting is Tuesday.

“I presume it will be a topic of discussion at the meeting,” he said.

The mold for the statue is long gone, Vodopich said.

“It’s not something we could replace or replicate,” he said.

Installation

Anderson was commissioned by the city to design and create the sculpture in 1992 for $47,000, according to Sharilyn Anderson’s brother, Jim Hoard. Anderson had free reign, his widow said. Their son, Caplan, posed for it. He was in junior high at the time.

“He put his heart and soul into this piece,” she said of her husband. “It was to lift you up, not bring you down.”

Sharilyn Anderson said her husband had her climb a ladder and hold a rake above the plinth so he could envision which way to face the statue.

“People were probably coming up the hill wondering what in the world is she doing up there,” Sharilyn Anderson said. “We were always a team on these things.”

At first, the statue stood mostly alone. By the time it was stolen it was flanked by shrubs, a flag pole and two signs: “Bonney Lake” and “Welcomes You”.

Now, all Sharilyn Anderson has left is a bronze maquette, or scale model of the statue. She’s not optimistic she will see the full-size version again.

Are other statues vulnerable?

Vodopich doesn’t know if the city could have done anything more to protect the statue. It was bolted to a tall plinth, lit up at night, fenced off and adjacent to a busy state highway.

“They were pretty brazen,” he said of the thieves.

Anderson’s work is displayed across the country, but Tacoma might have more than any other city. His statues reside in Old Town Tacoma, in front of Union Station, at Fireman’s Park, in South Tacoma, Wright Park, Lincoln High School and outside Lowell Elementary School.

Tacoma Police spokesperson Shelbie Boyd urged the public to call police if they see anyone working on or around a statue, even if they look legitimate.

“Call,” she said Thursday. “We’ll vet them. We’ll make sure it’s a legit deal.”

Police response

A Bonney Lake police spokesperson could not be reached for comment on Wednesday but later in the day, the department posted about the theft on its Facebook page. The post asked the public to send any tips to an email account, detective@cobl.us, or call (253) 447-3231.

Reaction was swift with more than 200 people commenting.

“This is absolutely disheartening to hear,” Dana Heutmaker McCauley wrote. “If whoever out there is reading this who knows where these pieces are please consider returning them.”

“This makes me super sad,” Jen Manno wrote. “That statue has been there since I can remember!”