Life-size clown, amusement park mascot, no longer missing
WICHITA, Kan. -- Louie the Clown has been found.
The ceramic amusement park mascot, large as life, vanished from Wichita's Joyland perhaps seven years ago -- but now, according to CBS affiliate KWCH, Louie has been located at the home of a sex offender.
A sex offender who once worked at the now-shuttered amusement park.
Wichita police announced Thursday that the long-lost statue turned up a few days earlier at the home of 39-year-old Damian Mayes, who is in prison for a 2010 conviction on child sex charges, according to the station.
Police say Louie was first reported missing from Joyland in 2010, and that social media helped keep this "clown case" alive.
They say the nearly 50-year-old clown statute is worth about $10,000.
Investigators plan to pursue felony charges against two people in the case of long-lost...and now found...Louie.