STOLEN RONALD MCDONALD STATUE FOUND IN COUNTY BARN

Ronald McDonald made it back to his bench outside the William Street McDonald's after sheriff's deputies carried the 300-pound statue from a Cape Girardeau County barn Thursday.

"He had cobwebs all over him and a good bit of dust all over him," said sheriff's detective Sgt. Eric Friedrich.

The statue, missing since Oct. 10, had probably been in the unused barn near County Road 651 since it was stolen, Friedrich said.

A caretaker for the owner of the property had gone into the barn Thursday morning to do some cleaning and found the statue sitting on a bench in the same pose it normally takes in front of McDonald's restaurant at 3419 William St.

Considering the amount of dust that had settled on Ronald, the detective decided trying to get fingerprints would be useless.

The $3,000 statue had disappeared once before. In October 1999 the life-size statue was taken from the same bench at McDonald's. It was found a week later in the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. The statue had been lying on its back almost a quarter-mile from a road with beer cans scattered about. Ronald was also missing a hand.

On Thursday, all limbs were intact. Ronald was taken by deputies to the Cape Girardeau Police Department until McDonald's management could retrieve him.

A surprised group of second-graders touring the police station were pleased to see Ronald in the station's parking lot, police Cpl. Rick Schmidt said.

Restaurant owner Jerry Davis was also glad to see his statue, saying he planned to use more bolts than last time.