Describing the original statue as “not salvageable at this time,” police spokesman Andrew Ford said fire department personnel discovered “pieces” of it after they extinguished the blaze.
While the fire department investigates the possibility of arson, Ford told reporters, police are continuing their search for those who stole the statue and disposed of it, as well as for anyone who may have provided assistance.
Erected in 2021 by League 42, a youth baseball organization named in honor of Robinson’s jersey number, the statue was placed at Wichita’s McAdams Park, which features baseball fields and other athletic facilities named for prominent members of the city’s Black community. While McAdams Park is located in the north half of the city, Garvey Park is situated in Wichita’s south end, approximately seven miles away.
The statue was found Thursday with only Robinson’s shoes and the base below them remaining. Everything above had been cut off and removed, police said, in a truck.
Police said Monday that they located the pickup truck believed to have been used in the theft, adding that they did not believe the vehicle was stolen. No arrests have been made in the case.
Ford said Tuesday that police have conducted “over 100 interviews” and are tracking down leads, including the use of technology such as surveillance video and Ring-style home doorbells.
Wichita police chief Joe Sullivan said at Tuesday’s news conference that the discovery of the statue was a “direct indication of the pressure our investigators are putting on the perpetrators of this act.”
“There will be arrests,” he said, “but we’re going to make sure that when we do, we will have a solid case.”
Sullivan added that it was “really disheartening to see the remnants of the statue and the disgraceful way in which it has been disrespected.”
Robinson, who starred for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947 to 1956, was a civil rights pioneer who broke Major League Baseball’s color line. In 1997, MLB honored Robinson by permanently retiring his No. 42 across all its teams.
Robinson’s first season in professional baseball was a 1945 stint with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues. He spent the 1946 season with the Dodgers’ top minor league affiliate in Montreal before Brooklyn called him up the following year.
When Robinson’s statue at McAdams Park was unveiled in 2021, a League 42 official said the goal was to help young athletes and other visitors see “how inspiring he was, not only to African Americans and people of color but to everyone in this whole community.”
On Tuesday, League 42 director Bob Lutz told reporters that the discovery of the destroyed statue was “not the result we wanted, but it is a result, and now we can move on.”
Lutz added that while the statue’s sculptor had died, the original mold was “still viable.”
“We know we are going to incorporate a brand new statue that looks exactly like the old one,” Lutz said. “In a matter of months, that will be erected at McAdams Park, and we are looking forward to that day. … We’re ready for some joy.”
The theft and destruction of the Robinson statue took place days before the start of Black History Month.
“If it turns out it was racially motivated, then obviously that is a deeper societal issue and it certainly would make this a much more concerning theft,” Lutz told the Associated Press. “We’ll wait and see what this turns out to be.”
