Baby Jesus vanishes, reappears

NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Baby Jesus was kidnapped from a Florida nativity display and returned within a few hours.

The nativity scene was placed at a traffic circle near Jacksonville by Ken Koenig, a resident of Ponte Vedra Beach who went to court over the issue. Wednesday morning, Atlantic Beach employees noticed that Jesus was missing, Neptune Beach City Manager Jim Jarboe told the Jacksonville Times-Union.

Jesus was back around lunchtime, Jarboe said.

Koenig believes someone has it in for the crèche.

"A lot of effort went into seeing that the Christian faith was represented fairly in that circle," Koenig said. "Obviously, someone doesn't want to see it there."

Neptune Beach Police Chief David Sembach believes someone may have taken the Jesus figure from the manger and thrown it into the bushes, where a Good Samaritan found it and returned it.