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, wants it back.
At 5 a.m. Sunday, a neighbor’s surveillance video showed a man wearing a gray hoodie and pants walking briskly down an alley, holding a slender 48-pound Halloween decoration in his hand, his bony fingers reaching toward the sky.
Video footage seen by The Times shows the man walking up to a black four-door car and placing the ornament on it.
Avelina Rodriguez has lived in her Corona home on Grand Avenue for the past five years.
She told The Times that for three years she had been preparing the Jack Skellington animatronic for Halloween and continued to use her mother-in-law’s custom-made Santa Claus costume for Christmas.
“I’m a huge fan of Jack Skull and I have a lot of them [filmmaker] Tim Burton merchandise,” Rodriguez said. “This is my biggest purchase to date. ”
The ornament is on sale on the Home Depot website for $500.
She said she had never heard of this type of theft in all her years living in the Corona area and was shocked someone had taken her decorations.
“When people steal from other people, they don’t know who they’re stealing from, these are hard-working people with backstories, and that’s sad,” said Michelle Saiza-Paz, a friend of Rodriguez’s who has been helping spread word of the incident.
Robert Montanez, public information officer for the Corona Police Department, said the department is aware of the incident.
A community services officer documented the theft; however, he said the investigation was now closed.
“The community services officer who dealt with the matter [the case] Do tell the victim that if anything else comes up or they get another video, we’d be happy to look at it,” Monanes said.
Montanez said he could not determine if this type of theft is common in the city.
He encouraged residents to report thefts or other types of crimes to the police department to help identify trends or possible repeat offenders.
Rodriguez said she hoped Jack would be returned to her or found.
“Let’s get Jack back!” Cesar Paz said.
