A 13-foot-tall Jack Skellington Halloween decoration was stolen from the front yard of a Corona home, and its owner — a huge fan of the “Nightmare Before Christmas” character — is hoping for its return.
Security camera footage from a neighbor shows, on Sunday at 5 a.m., a person dressed in a gray hoodie and pants walking briskly down an alley while carrying the elongated 48-pound Halloween decoration horizontally, its bony fingers stretching toward the sky.
The video footage, reviewed by The Times, shows the man head toward a black four-door vehicle and place the decoration on top of it.
Avelina Rodriguez has lived in her Corona home on Grand Avenue for the last five years.
For three of those years, she told The Times, she’s been putting up the Jack Skellington animatronic for Halloween and keeps it up during the Christmas season adorned with a Santa outfit that her mother-in-law custom-made for it.
“I’m a huge Jack Skellington fan, and I collect a lot of [filmmaker] Tim Burton merch,” Rodriguez said. “This was my biggest purchase by far.”
The decoration is listed for sale on Home Depot’s website for $500.
In her years living in the Corona area, she said she’d never heard of this kind of theft and was devastated someone took her decoration.
“It’s sad when people steal from others and they don’t know who they are stealing from, hard-working people with back stories,” said Michelle Saiza-Paz, Rodriquez’s friend who has been helping spread the word about the incident.
The Corona Police Department is aware of the incident, said Robert Montanez, public information officer for the department.
A report of the theft was taken by a community service officer; however, the investigation is currently closed, he said.
“The community service officer that handled [the case] did tell the victim that if anything else popped up or if they obtained another video, we’d be happy to look at it,” Monanez said.
Montanez said he couldn’t speak to whether this type of theft was a common occurrence within the city.
He encouraged residents to report thefts or other types of crimes to the Police Department to assist in identifying trends or possibly repeat offenders.
Rodriguez said she hoped Jack would be returned to her or found.
“Let’s get Jack back!” Saiza-Paz said.
Karen Garcia
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