Statue Marking Children’s Deaths Stolen from Elementary School

Lincolnwood, Ill. - A statue that was part of a memorial to students who had died was stolen from outside a near north suburban elementary school.

An employee of Todd Hall Elementary School in Lincolnwood noticed on Monday morning that the metal statue of two children reading a book was missing from the memorial, Principal Ellen Shankar told Pioneer Press.

The bronze-colored statue was affixed to a metal bench bolted to cement in front of the school at 3925 W. Lunt Ave. The bench remains.

Shankar said staff members searched school grounds, including the building’s roof, but did not find the statue or any remnants of it.

“I have no idea what happened,” she said, adding the memorial hasn’t been damaged in the past.

The statue was part of the school’s “Wall of Courage,” a memorial for Lincolnwood School District students who died young.

The memorial was dedicated in May 2004 after the deaths of Ayla Asif and Sammy Shapiro-Rosenberg, who succumbed to cancer in 2003. The memorial honors all children who died while students in the district, including Sean Sophier (1998), Anfal Hussain (1995) and Michelle Mollet (1973), who also were named on the memorial.

Students raised money by collecting pennies to fund the statue in honor of their classmates, Shankar said.

Though the statue doesn’t have great monetary value, someone might have mistaken it for bronze and wanted to sell it to make a “quick buck,” she said.

Lincolnwood Police Lt. John Walsh said the department is searching for suspects.

Shankar made a plea on the school’s website for information about the missing statue. If it doesn’t turn up in the next few months, plans will be made to “replace or put something in that space that is meaningful,” she said.

Anyone with information should call police at (847) 673-2167 or the school at (847) 675-8235.