Police in Slovenia are investigating how, and why, a bronze statue of first lady Melania Trump was stolen in her native country.
According to local media outlet Agence France-Presse, a towering broze sculpture, which was anchored to a tree stump in a field near Melania’s hometown of Sevnica, suddenly vanished on Tuesday.
Law enforcement said the statue had been cut off at the feet.
“The theft was reported on 13 May and immediately police officers visited the crime scene and launched an investigation,” a police spokesperson said Thursday.
Melania Trump’s Second Statue Stolen After Original One Was Set on Fire https://t.co/FPRzHg3dKR
— The Inquisitr (@theinquisitr) May 16, 2025
The sculpture — created by American conceptual artist Brad Downey — had been erected after arsonists torched a wooden one resembling the first lady back in 2020.
The life-sized statue was left blackened and disfigured on its plinth near Sevnica, Slovenia, on July 4, 2020.
The statue was erected in July 2019 to highlight Melania’s status as an immigrant.
Downey added when the original statue had been burnt ‘it didn’t feel right’ so he decided to replace it with a bronze copy, which he has described as an ‘anti-monument, anti-propaganda’.
The original statue featuring a blue dress and heels had been carved with a chainsaw by local artist Ales Zupevc out of a tree.
Downey said of the recently stolen statue that he was “a bit sad that it’s gone.”
“My feeling is that it has something to do with the new election [of Donald Trump], but who knows, right?” the artist said.
The first lady was born in Novo Mesto in 1970 but grew up in the town of Sevnica when Slovenia was part of the Communist nation of Yugoslavia.
In Sevnica, some 60 miles east of the capital Ljubljana, she has inspired numerous products, including cakes and chocolates, named after her.