The life-size bronze statue commemorates a Japanese girl who survived the atom bomb in Hiroshima and later died from radiation-related cancer.
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SEATTLE — The statue of a Hiroshima bombing survivor is missing and believed to be stolen from a Seattle park.
The statue of Sadako Sasaki stood in Seattle’s Peace Park for decades, until Friday morning when it was discovered someone stole the statue, cutting it at her ankles.
Those with the University Friends Meeting, a Quaker meeting, are hoping to find it.
“Maybe some people thought nobody cared about this statue, but they are so wrong,” said Colleen Kimseylove, office coordinator with University Friends Meeting.
The five-foot, life-size bronze statue of Sadako is a symbol of peace. She’s a Japanese girl that was 2 years old when she survived the atom bomb in Hiroshima, but because of the radiation from the bomb, she developed leukemia and died 10 years later.
KING 5’s cameras were there when Sadako’s statue was placed in its permanent home in 1990.
Dr. Floyd Schmoe, a Quaker, used prize money from winning the Hiroshima Peace Prize to clear out the space and create Peace Park, purposefully placed by a busy intersection.
“In the hopes that her presence would be a testimony to the impact of war on children and other innocent people,” said Kimseylove.
Sadako is often draped in paper cranes, an homage to the 1,000 cranes she folded before her death in hopes of granting her wish to live. The book “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” is read by thousands of kids each year since it was published in 1977.
“She is very, very loved, not just by me or the Quaker meeting but by tens of thousands of children that to this day read a book placed on her life,” Kimseylove said.
Kimseylove said those cranes were draped around her when the statue was stolen. A theft that seemingly took a lot of effort.
“Someone was very brazen indeed,” said Kimseylove.
This isn’t the first time the statue has been targeted. In December 2003, someone vandalized the statue by breaking the arm and damaging the nose and ankle. Eight months later she was made whole.
This time Kimseylove doesn’t wish harm on who took her, just a change of heart.
“I wish the person who did this would have a dark night of a soul and crisis and a light come to them and say man I made a mistake,” Kimseylove said.
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Kimseylove said that Seattle Police, the Parks Department, and every scrap metal yard in a 100-mile radius has been notified.
