A large finial stolen this weekend from the top of the Como Park Conservatory dome was found Tuesday — inside a big Christmas stocking.
At least one person scaled the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in Como Park, grabbed the globe and climbed back down.
On Tuesday, after an anonymous tip, police found the finial inside the red stocking in a parking lot east of Como Park off Lexington Parkway North, said Como Park Conservatory spokesman Matt Reinartz.
St. Paul police said no one has been arrested.
Reinartz said an employee noticed the finial missing on Sunday. The bluish sphere with some gold at its base sat 64 feet high, affixed on top of the large dome.
On Monday, he looked through hours of security footage and came across one showing a group of what appeared to be young people, he said. The video showed them walking toward the visitor center early Sunday morning, then disappearing.
Reinartz said 15 minutes later one person came back into view holding the finial and started running. A second and third person appeared, then ran. Reinartz is not sure what happened to the other two.
He thinks the thieves used a back fire-escape stairway to climb to the top.
"Obviously we've gone through huge windstorms and storms, and it's secured pretty good," he said. "To get up there is incredibly dangerous — they would have to leap and climb — but I guess if there's a will there's a way."
