Jack Skellington decoration stolen from Corona home
Jack Skellington decoration stolen from Corona home
A 13-foot-tall Jack Skellington decoration was stolen from Avelina's yard in Corona.
CORONA, Calif. - It’s like a real-life "Nightmare Before Christmas" in Corona, where a neighborhood’s beloved 13-foot-tall Jack Skellington decoration was stolen — and the owner is hoping for a Halloween miracle.
For years, the massive animatronic figure — a replica of the Pumpkin King from Tim Burton’s classic film — has been the centerpiece of Avelina Rodriguez’s front yard on Grand Avenue. Rodriguez said she decorates for both Halloween and Christmas using a "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme that’s become a family tradition.
"My whole family loves Jack Skellington**...** and now my granddaughter is obsessed with it — she’s 2 years old — and her first word was actually Jack," she said.
Neighbors say the towering figure is a familiar sight every fall, with kids and families often stopping to take pictures in front of it. But over the weekend, that tradition took a dark turn.
Security video captured early Sunday morning shows a thief hauling the giant Jack down an alley before loading it onto the roof of a car and driving away.
"They came at 5 in the morning when they knew it was dark," Rodriguez said. "Put him on top of the roof of the car — so they had to have been holding on to this 13-foot Jack the whole time while the other person’s driving? It’s insane!"
The theft has left the Rodriguez family heartbroken.
"You ruin it for people, you know?" Rodriguez said. "It’s not right — people work hard for their stuff, and then people don’t want to decorate because stuff gets stolen like that. Think about what you do and how it affects everybody."
Despite the disappointment, Rodriguez said she’s not giving up hope that someone might come forward.
"It would mean a lot to me — it would be like a Halloween miracle for me," she said. "I know there’s Christmas miracles, but it would be a Halloween miracle. It would make me really happy and would make my family happy, and it would just go to show that there’s hope."
Rodriguez filed a police report, and anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact Corona police.