Junipero Serra statue decapitated at Monterey’s Lower Presidio Park

Investigators are looking for the vandals who decapitated a statue of Saint Junipero Serra at Monterey’s Lower Presidio Park. This comes just weeks after vandals hit another Serra statue at the Carmel Mission.

“I was saddened, greatly saddened,” said Dennis Copeland, a historian for the City of Monterey.

Copeland said it’s a devastating blow to the city’s historic art collection. The granite sculpture has been at the park since 1891.

“It depicts Father Serra arriving in 1770 in a small boat from the ship San Antonio. This statue represents a history of Monterey and of early California,” said Copeland.

Investigators said on Thursday morning the statue was found decapitated with its head missing. Presidio and Monterey police have teamed up to solve the case. At this time, they said they have no witnesses, no leads, and they don’t know exactly when the crime occurred.

This isn’t the first time vandals targeted Serra. Last month at the Carmel Mission, a statue of Serra was torn down and covered in green paint, just days after Pope Francis made him a saint.

“It’s extremely disturbing that this would happen because of the canonization of Junipero Serra, I assume,” said Kathleen Coss, a Carmel resident.

Serra has been targeted by some Native American groups that criticize his treatment of their ancestors.

“He did not make a difference. He accepted what was happening by saying that we were children and that we didn’t know what was best for us,” said Louise Ramirez with the Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation.

Still, people like Copeland said the statue is an important public art piece and there’s hope it can be fixed.

“What we have to do is go on, repair the statue, get it conserved, and the story of it and have people enjoy this wonderful park,” said Copeland.

The statue belongs to the city but it’s on federal property, which means the suspects could face federal charges. Right now there’s no estimated cost of the damages.