Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. - Boston police have recovered the decapitated Italian marble head of an often vandalized Christopher Columbus statue. The head went missing from its home in the North End's Christopher Columbus Park on June 2nd. An eye witness reported seeing two white males running away from the scene of the beheading carrying what appeared to be a heavy object. The head was discovered in a doorway on Sheafe Street near Copps Hill cemetery, but police have not made any progress in finding out who stole it.

The statue has been defaced at least half a dozen times in recent years including two incidents were the entire head was removed. The vandals have left clear messages behind such as in 2004 when the word "MURDERER" was left in red paint on the base of the statue. The monument was erected in 1979 amid controversy surrounding Columbus' brutal history of genocide against Native Americans.