Presidential Portrait Stolen From Southgate House

A former American president has gone missing from the Southgate House. Owners say someone took off with an original oil painting of Andrew Jackson.

The painting is believed to have been taken sometime between December 15th and 16th.   Local 12 News Reporter Rich Jaffe has more on the mystery of the missing man.

The painting is part of a collection of 8 portraits of Presidents who were believed to have visited the Southgate House during the life of it's original owner, Richard Southgate. The paintings were commissioned by the most recent owner Ross Raleigh...and no one can figure out how something so big made it out of there when the place was full of people.

The set of Presidential portraits hung in Juney's Lounge on the first floor of the Southgate House. The missing portrait used to hang in the middle of a wall, above the bar's piano. It's an oil painting of President Andrew Jackson and it's surrounded by an ornate wooden frame. Painted by Kentucky artist Jerry Bond, it's hung there since they were painted in the late 80's early 90's and "We've never had anything happen to the paintings before."

Ross Raleigh commissioned the paintings because the artist was a personal friend and he wanted to share the buildings history with his faithful patrons. The portrait somehow disappeared between 7 pm December 15th and 5 p.m. on December 16th during business hours. Adding to the mystery is the fact that while the club was open there was a bartender in the room, and a security guard at the front door. "We all sat there...how did this happen, how did they get it out...why did they want to do it? Did they particularly want Andrew Jackson as opposed to the other Presidents because out of all of them Abraham Lincoln would be the most desirable to a Presidential painting collector."

Knowing the club was closing, the speculation is someone wanted their own personal piece of memorabilia. But the theft was a double blow to the club owner Ross Raleigh. "We were having to leave the building, he had Jerry paint these specifically for him. Jerry passed away in 2004 so it's not like he can have him paint another one for him so it was very heartbreaking for him."

Raleigh tells me the painting's worth about $3500 but clearly the emotional value of it since it was done by his friend is a lot higher. The owners considered taking the paintings down just before the theft, but they wanted patrons to be able to enjoy them through the last evening. Southgate House closed on New Year's Eve.