Stolen dinosaur statues found at UT frat house

Hope Unger, News Reporter

Three large dinosaur statues that were stolen from a museum in Bastrop County were found at a UT fraternity house Oct. 26.

The Dinosaur Park in Cedar Creek discovered three of their dinosaur statues were missing Oct. 21 after a trail inspection and offered a $1,000 reward for information about their whereabouts. Someone submitted a tip on Oct. 25 that they saw the statues during a frat party on Oct. 23. The statues were found at a UT fraternity house on the 2500 block of Pearl Street, said Austin Nunez, who does public relations and marketing for the park.

The three dinosaurs are replicas of the Minmi, the Dilong and the Dimetrodon. Nunez said the Minmi is intact, but the Dilong was completely destroyed and the Dimetrodon will need costly repairs.


“It’s a shame that two of them were returned in poor condition,” Nunez said. “But we are happy, nonetheless, to have them back and specifically we’re very grateful that the community was keeping an eye out for us.”

Nunez said the park is beginning preparations to increase security measures by installing more cameras along the trail and bolting the dinosaur statues into the ground.

The University of Texas Police Department referred media requests about the incident to University Communications and the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office.

The Office of the Dean of Students was notified of the incident and is still gathering information about it as of Monday, said Eliska Padilla, University issues and communications manager.

Padilla said if the University determines the incident is just a student conduct matter involving a few students, they will be unable to release more information about the perpetrators. However, if the incident requires disciplinary action against the entire fraternity, the University will share more information, Padilla said.

Bastrop County sheriff Maurice Cook said they have five suspects they believe were involved in the incident. He said the sheriff’s office is still investigating the incident, and he is not at liberty to reveal more information.