For months, a life-sized statue of “Cocoa,” Richard Hadl’s beloved chocolate-colored Labrador retriever, had been standing next to Hadl’s grave in Oak Hill Cemetery.

People warned Hadl’s widow, Vera, that the $350 statue she bought from a catalog would be a magnet for thieves. But she said her late husband loved his dog so much — even feeding it a full Thanksgiving dinner each year — that she was willing to accept the risk.

Vera Hadl holds a picture of her husband's beloved dog, Cocoa, next to her husband's tombstone at Oak Hill Cemetery. Only a bare spot remains where there used to be a life-sized statue of the Labrador retriever. Police have no suspects in the theft.

Tuesday, it happened.

Someone with a family member buried in a nearby plot called Vera Hadl to tell her the statue of the dog was missing. Now, a patch of concrete with two paw prints at the front sits where the statue used to be.

Hadl says she feels sick.

“I think it’s very, very lowlife,” she said. “I think maybe they should get a life. If I ever find out who it is, they’d better be very wary of me.”

Police have no suspects in the theft, said Sgt. Dan Ward, a Lawrence Police spokesman. Vera Hadl last saw the statue Sunday, and she said groundskeepers told her they thought they saw it Monday.

Richard Hadl, a cabinetmaker who once owned Hadl Custom Cabinetry, died in 2002 at age 74 after a stroke. He and his wife are lifetime Lawrence residents.

The year before Richard Hadl’s death, the couple lost their 44-year-old son, Russell, who died of a heart problem. He is buried near his father.

The real “Cocoa,” who died in 1997, kept Richard Hadl company in his at-home workshop, Vera Hadl said.

She said that after she put the lifelike statue next to her husband’s tombstone about three months ago, passersby would sometimes stop to pet it or wait in their cars for it to cross the road.

6News video: Statue stolen from gravesite

“It would seem that maybe God would be looking after me if they just brought it back,” she said. “I’d even be foolish enough to purchase another one and put it back there.”

'Cocoa' died in 1997.