November 14, 2008
Purdue police investigate portraits missing from campus building
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
A building worker discovered the paintings were missing around 8:15 a.m. Friday (Nov. 14) and notified police, said Purdue police Lt. Fred Davis. The paintings are believed to have been removed sometime after 6 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 13). The portraits and frame are valued at $50,000 to $75,000, according to a police report.
The paintings are of the late Marietta S. and Karl H. Kettelhut, a couple who were Purdue graduates and donors to the university. The paintings were enclosed in a glass case with a wooden frame at a stairwell on the building's west side. The frame is about 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide, and it appears to have gold flecks in it, according to the report.
The wood at the base of the frame was splintered where the painting had been removed, Davis said.
Marietta Kettelhut earned a bachelor's degree in 1927, and Karl Kettelhut received his bachelor's degree in 1926 and his master's degree in 1930. He was posthumously awarded an honorary doctorate from the university in 1991.
The couple are the founders of Kettelhut Construction. A distinguished professorship of structural engineering is named in their honor, as is a structural engineering laboratory on campus.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Purdue Police Department at (765) 494-8221 or its anonymous tipline at (765) 496-3784. The WeTip anonymous hotline also is available at 1-800-78CRIME (1-800-782-7463).
Writer: Jim Bush, (765) 494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu
Source: Fred Davis, (765) 494-8221, fvdavis@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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