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A bronze statue of First Lady Melania Trump was cut at the ankles and stolen in her native Slovenia, Agence France-Presse reported via the New York Post.
The life-size statue, which was anchored to a tree stump in Trump's hometown of Sevnica, disappeared on Tuesday (May 13) and police confirmed that its feet were cut off.
“The theft was reported on 13 May and immediately police officers visited the crime scene and launched an investigation,” a police spokesperson said on Thursday (May 15).
The statue, which was created by American conceptual artist Brad Downey, replaced a previous wooden one resembling the first lady after it was torched by arsonists in 2020.
“My feeling is that it has something to do with the new election [of Donald Trump], but who knows, right?” the artist said, noting that he was "a bit sad that it's gone."
Trump was born in Novo Mesto and grew up in Sevnica when Slovenia was still part of the Communist nation of Yugoslavia, becoming a fashion model at the age of 16 and later immigrating to the United States in 1996. Melania met President Trump in 1998 while living in Manhattan and the two began dating shortly after, marrying in 2005.