Columbus Statue's Missing Nose Leads To Beheading Suspect: PD

WATERBURY, CT — Police in Waterbury are looking for a New York man who tried to sell the broken-off nose that was once attached to the Christopher Columbus statue in front of city hall. In a news release, the department named 22-year-old Brandon Ambrose, of Port Chester, as a suspect.

The Columbus statue was discovered decapitated shortly after 5:30 a.m. on July 4, police said. Investigators recovered the head from the ground nearby— at least, most of the head.

But it was the missing nose that eventually led detectives to their suspect.

In a statement (first reported by Fox 61's Matt Caron), the Waterbury Police Department described its investigators reviewing surveillance footage of the beheading, which showed a suspect wearing dark clothing and backpack walking up to the statue, climbing it, and "striking the head of the statute with an unknown object."

"At one point, the suspect jumped off the statute, grabbed an object from the ground and ran away," the statement continued. "Several minutes later the suspect returned to the statute, climbed back up on it and struck the head of the statute several more times until the head broke off. The head fell to the ground and the suspect ran off and did not return. It was determined the nose from the head was missing."

Detectives eventually found someone trying to sell just such a nose, and "through investigative means" identified Ambrose as both the nose-seller and the statue-decapitator.

Ambrose is not in custody. Police are searching for him on a warrant for charges of criminal mischief, desecration of property and larceny.

Columbus statues have become the subject of ongoing protests in cities across the country, as activists say the monuments honoring the explorer ignore a legacy tainted by racism and genocide.

For Italian American group UNICO, which previously offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the suspect behind the beheading, the statue represents a "message of thanksgiving." In a Facebook post Friday, the group thanked the Waterbury police for identifying "the individual who committed this crime of hate."

Read also:

• Waterbury Columbus Statue Decapitated
• Christopher Columbus Statue Recovered From Harbor
• Providence's Columbus Statute To Be Removed