Bronze bust of Robert F. Kennedy stolen from outside RFK Stadium
A bronze bust of Robert F. Kennedy has been stolen. It sat outside the stadium that was renamed to honor him after he was assassinated on the presidential campaign trail in 1968.
During the recent demolition project to make way for a new stadium, the sculpture remained in a grassy area just outside the site’s security fence.
The shocking theft, first reported by the Washington Post, may have gone unnoticed for two weeks, according to a D.C. police report obtained by News4.
The bronze bust of Robert F. Kennedy, by noted sculptor Robert Berks, stood since it was placed there in 1969.
The sculpture is part of D.C. history, a symbol of grief and respect and honor in front of the sports venue that was home to the golden years of Washington football.
People were shocked by the news that it had been stolen.
“Oh my God!” one neighbor said.
“I remember it from a long long time ago,” another said.
The D.C. police report carries few details, except to say the sculpture is believed to have been stolen sometime between Sept.15 and Oct. 1.
The site sits just outside the security fence erected for the stadium project. Denise Krepp lives nearby.
“If this had been the priceless artifact that we were all told it was, then they would have protected it,” said Denise Krepp, who lives nearby. “They would either put the perimeter around so that you wouldn’t have seen it, or maybe, just maybe, you would have taken it, realizing this is a construction site for safekeeping, and then put it back.”
In a statement to News4, Events DC said only that they learned the bust of Robert F. Kennedy was missing from its pedestal, which is located in a publicly accessible space on the RFK Memorial Stadium Grounds.
They filed a police report and noted the remaining granite pedestal has been placed in storage.
News4 spoke by phone with Skip Strobel, a D.C. man who has, for years, made it a personal mission to keep the area around the RFK statue nice and clean as a tribute to a man he admired greatly. He wants the new stadium to have a memorial museum.
“At first, I was in shock, and then I started to cry,” Strobel said. “The more I got to know him at 13, 14, 15, the more I said, ‘This is who I would like to be like — a compassionate, understanding, sympathetic, smart, all for the people kind of guy.”
What the thieves plan to do with the bust is unclear, but cemeteries in the D.C. area have been plagued with the theft of bronze flower holders that are sold as scrap for quick cash.
