Stolen dinosaur unearthed after anonymous tip

SPOKANE, Wash. (The Spokesman-Review) — Deputies with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office unearthed a missing Mead monument over Memorial Day weekend.

The law enforcement agency located and returned to its owners on Friday a large metal Tyrannosaurus rex, more than two months after the shiny, silvery statue was stolen from a roundabout at Dupont Road and Mellon Parkway. The damage caused to the statue’s stand and the statue, which resembles a mylar balloon in the shape of a cartoon dinosaur, were estimated to be worth around $70,000.

The statue was found by deputies buried on land north of Deer Park near Short Road and Montgomery Road, after the agency received an anonymous tip about the theropod’s whereabouts, according to a news release from sheriff’s office spokesman Cpl. Mark Gregory.

The property is nearly 20 miles from the roundabout ‘Rex’ used to call home.

“They carefully uncovered ‘Rex’ and eventually freed him from his dirt-filled dungeon,” Gregory wrote.

Tow trucks had to assist in the recovery of the roughly 400-pound, 3 1/2-foot-tall statue, which was a public art piece tied to the neighboring Fossil Park development that is under construction as part of Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Corp.’s Mead Works project.

“You’re not going to turn around and throw that in the back of a patrol car,” Gregory said.

Developer Jim Frank, now-retired founder of Greenstone, said the statue was made by New Zealand-based artist Gregor Kregar and is half of a pair the company placed in the neighborhood. The other is a large bronze in the park adjacent to the roundabout that carries a dinosaur theme throughout the play equipment.

“Even though that dinosaur had only been in there for a few months, it’s already become beloved by the neighborhood,” Frank told The Spokesman-Review earlier this year.

The agency received several tips about the dinosaur, its location and potential suspects since news of the cretaceous kidnapping broke in March. Many had to do with a social media copycat: An account has been posting on multiple platforms photos and videos of a replica statue around town to drum up attention.

The statue received minor damage that the development company is working to repair before returning it to its perch.

“Its always good to get property back to its rightful owner,” Gregory said.

The investigation into the heist is ongoing, and no one has been charged or arrested in relation to the dinosaur’s March disappearance, according to the release.

Gregory said those with information about the incident can pass it on to the agency by calling Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.