Precious statue returned to Iowa family’s home

PLEASANT HILL, Iowa (AP) — A precious statue stolen from the yard of a suburban Des Moines home has been returned.

Television station KCCI reports an Altoona woman had seen a story about the stolen statue and then found the statue on her porch. She told the police she didn’t know how it got there.

The heavy statue may have looked like a lawn decoration, but to Laura Sweeden and her family, it was reminiscent of a picture of her 4-year-old daughter, Allison, who died in 1995 of a kidney ailment.

The statue has been a constant reminder for two of Sweeden’s children who never knew their older sister.

The Sweeden family retrieved it Thursday and took it home to Pleasant Hill.