Police Follow Leads on Serra Beheading

Still-wet paint drips from the statue of Father Serra.

No braggadocious information has turned up online as yet, said Santa Barbara police, on who removed the head from the statue of Padre Junipero Serra at Old Mission Santa Barbara, but detectives are working on a few leads. So far, said police spokesperson Sergeant Josh Morton, they’ve determined the beheading occurred between midnight and 6 a.m. on September 11. Cut marks on the statue show a tool was used at first and then the head cracked off. No written message was found at the crime scene, said Morton, and it remains unclear whether the decapitation was a statement or just a bad prank. Serra’s head remains missing.