Missing Minnesota gnome turns up

SUNFISH LAKE, Minn., June 13 (UPI) -- A 5-foot wooden gnome missing from a Minnesota family's yard the past six months has surfaced unharmed.

It turns out the bearded fellow with the tall pointy hat and a perpetual wave had been sitting in another man's yard several suburbs away all the time, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Wednesday.

The wood carving disappeared from Jim and Melanie Bellomo's yard in Sunfish Lake, a St. Paul suburb last December. They thought it was probably gone for good. But then the Pioneer Press did a story about the mystery that caught the eye of Mike Krejce of Oakdale, who says he had been wondering who had plunked the gnome down in his yard.

"At first, I thought one of my friends was playing a practical joke on me," Krejce said. "But when I called them, nobody had a clue what was going on.

"I'm so glad I was finally able to get it back to its rightful owner."

The 8-year-old gnome is now back home, much to the delight of 4-year-old Treva Bellomo.

"It kind of was like my big teddy bear," she said. "I missed it."