The stolen Buddha would be considered larceny, and police department data shows these sorts of crimes - taking or carrying away of property from the possession of another - are down 30% in the past year. Nextdoor groups have been full of accounts of people breaking into garages. The police department's database reveals that burglary in the city is up 27% year-over-year in the city. 'What kind of person steals a Buddha?' Carn wrote in an email. Most any San Francisco resident would tell you that theft is rampant in San Francisco amid the COVID-19 pandemic - with thieves pulling bikes from garages and snagging packages from front porches - but there's something about someone stealing a 2-foot-tall stone Buddha with a smile of sagacity that feels especially wicked. 'They had video footage of this guy literally picking up the Buddha, shoving a cardboard box over it and then coming back to steal a parcel left on their doorstep,' she said.Ĭarn sent footage to police, and the San Francisco Police Department confirmed with SFGATE that it received the evidence and the investigation remains active.Ī Buddha statue has long graced San Francisco's Macondray Lane, a shady, wooded byway two blocks east-west between Leavenworth and Taylor streets, parallel to Union and Green streets. Nobody seemed to know where the 2-foot-tall stone statue went, and then Carn got a solid lead: security camera footage from a neighbor. There's a vacant spot where he so calmly sat for god knows how many years.'Ĭonstruction workers at an apartment that recently changed hands reassured Carn they weren't the thieves. Tuesday, I turn left and there's no Buddha. 'Sometimes, when I come back from walks, I collect any fallen blossoms and place them by the Buddha, as others do. 'I always stop and place my hands together as a sign of respect and gratitude,' Carn said, noting that nobody who lives on the lane knows where the Buddha came from, but many say it has been there for years and years.

Carn played detective, talking to neighbors, posting fliers and filing a police report - all in hopes of finding the Buddha. Billie Carn, who has lived on the cobblestone lane for two years, was devastated when she first noticed it was gone April 27.

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