Life-Size Melania Trump Statue Literally Ripped Out of Perch and Stolen in Her Native Slovenia

(AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File) / (AP Photo/Relja Dusek)

A bronze statue of Melania Trump has been ripped off — literally — from her hometown in Slovenia, and the theft is under investigation, and not for the first time.

Police spokeswoman Alenka Drenik Rangus confirmed to the AP on Friday that the theft was reported on May 13 and an investigation is underway. The statue stood on a tree stump in a private field near Sevnica, the town where Melanija Knavs (now Melania Trump) was born in 1970. Police say they have no suspects.

The bronze figure was installed in 2020 to replace a previous wooden version carved from the stump of a tree, which was torched on the Fourth of July that year, not long after it went up.

(AP Photo/Miro Majcen)

Both statues were created by American artist Brad Downey in collaboration with local woodworker Aleš Župevc. Downey claims no involvement in the arson and said at the time the new one would be made of sturdier stuff: “as solid as possible… out of a durable material which cannot be wantonly destroyed.”

Nevertheless, the bronze statue was vandalized and stolen, cut off at the ankles from its perch.

The original wooden carving — fashioned with a chainsaw from a linden tree — depicted Melania in her 2017 inauguration outfit: pale blue dress, high heels, and a blank expression. It stood for about a year before someone turned it into firewood. The bronze version, which is more abstract than true likeness, lasted a little longer.

The artist told the AFP he learned about the incident while working on a new project in Germany and told said he is “a bit sad that it’s gone.”

“My feeling is that it has something to do with the new election… but who knows, right?” he said.

Neither Melania nor President Donald Trump ever visited the site. A separate 26-foot wooden statue of Trump — complete with two faces, one “nice,” one “vampire,” also met a fiery end in the country.