Missing Korean costumes returned

Published 10:39 pm Thursday, August 9, 2007

LYNNWOOD – Two months ago, the children at Pacific Preschool Development Center wiped away their tears, lifted their chins and went forward with the school’s annual graduation ceremonies.

They danced.

They danced even though a thief had, that very week, stolen the costumes that were bought in South Korea especially for them.

“They’re very traditional and very elaborate,” said Susan Torngren, director of the school. “There are a lot of pieces that go together, so they’re probably worth several thousand dollars.”

But a week ago today, the children had reason to smile again: the costumes were left, bundled, just as they had been when they were taken, at the school’s front door in the morning before school opened.

“There was no note or anything,” Torngren said. “We have no sign of whoever did this.”

The children had practiced all year to perform traditional Korean dances at their year-end ceremony. In June, they went outside to practice in the early summer sun.

When the children returned indoors for a short break, the costumes, packed together in bags, had been left outside, near the school’s front door.

When the children resumed their practice, the costumes were gone.

There were 16 purple vests, eight red taffeta dresses with matching jackets, six pairs of pants and two tops, Torngren said. The dresses alone are worth $600 each.

A detective was assigned to the case, but police were at a loss, said Shannon Sessions, a spokeswoman for the Lynnwood Police Department.

“There was nobody to follow up with,” she said. “Nobody saw anybody taking them.”

No one knows why the costumes were returned. They haven’t been damaged in any way, Torngren said.

“We’re just excited to have them back,” she said.

Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.

Students at Lynnwood’s Pacific Preschool Development Center rehearse wearing Korean costumes that were later missing for two months.