Two Jayhawk statues remain in the neatly manicured lawn of Lawrence residents Ken and Carol Hillebert. But a few weeks ago, there were four.

All that’s left of their other statues is dents in their mulch.

“They’re right there in front,” Ken Hillebert said. “They’ve been there for three years.”

Their two missing Jayhawk statues have sentimental value. One was given to them by their son Kenny’s former teacher after he died in a car accident.

“She had it painted where it had a smiling face on it because she said he was always so happy,” Ken said.

The other was a housewarming gift from their realtor.

“We moved from Rossville, Kansas. It’s about 45 miles from here,” Ken said. “Her and I, we talked a lot of sports and she knew how avid KU fans we were.”

The couple couldn’t believe what had happened and prompted Carol to let others know.

“I noticed that (the Journal-World) had a lot of Letters to the Editor when somebody had a particular comment,” she said. She told her husband she was going to write one, “just to get my feelings out there.”

They want to make sure people realize their actions hurt others.

“When they do something randomly like that, they think they’re not really hurting anybody,” Carol said. “What the statues meant to us and what they meant to the people that took them are two different things.”

The Hilleberts hope others don’t have to deal with losing items that have special meaning.

“We probably would go and replace them, but you can’t really replace them,” Carol said. “This is a good community and I just don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”

The couple says if they are returned, there will be no questions asked.