A Portland, Oregon, man is on the hunt for a 100-pound model boat and is offering a reward for its safe return.
KPTV reports Rick Piper and his son spent years building a mini but hyperrealistic and accurate model of the USS Missouri, of World War II acclaim. Their project grew to be 10 feet long and more than 100 pounds.
The museum-quality model was displayed alongside documentation of its significance, such as the ship being where the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed, thus ending the Second World War.
Some were so impressed by the boat that a man who served on the actual ship offered Piper pieces of the Missouri’s wooden deck; one was embedded into the model.
But then the boat vanished.
Piper, who’s a member of the Portland Model Powerboat Association, thinks someone stole the boat and likened it to a kidnapping. He has since alerted national and international model boat club members about the theft.
A reward is being offered for the boat’s safe return. Police are also investigating.