Missing sculpture prompts tighter security at Bernard Madoff’s former NY beach home

October 2nd, 2009 Memorial sculpture honors NIU shooting victimsDEKALB, Ill. — Officials at Northern Illinois University have unveiled a sculpture at the site of a campus shooting that left five students dead in 2008.

September 30th, 2009 Collectors say valuable paintings stolen in Calif.PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Authorities say artwork by Jackson Pollock, Matisse, Rembrandt and others has been reported stolen from a California rental home in the wealthy enclave of Pebble Beach.

September 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A Las Vegas security firm has dragged Michael Jackson's estate into court demanding payment for an outstanding 2008 bill. According to TMZ.com, Steven Echols DBA Security Measures has alleged that the King of Pop failed to pay up 261,169 dollars to the company for its 24-hour-services to MJ and his three kids, reports Contactmusic.

September 10th, 2009 $500K artwork given to charity returning to ownerMIAMI — A valuable bronze sculpture that was donated to charity without the donor or recipient realizing its worth is going back to its owner. The approximately 1,200-pound sculpture, titled "Vanessa-Helena-Katharina-Landegger," by prominent American sculptor Sterett-Gittings Kelsey, was donated to Goodwill Industries of South Florida in May by a Miami investment firm, which asked to remain anonymous.

September 9th, 2009 Madoff's properties in NYC, Florida up for saleNEW YORK — It's where Bernard Madoff broke down and confessed to his massive fraud, frantically wrote checks for millions of dollars as the scheme unraveled and appeared in a bathrobe to greet the FBI agents who arrested him. Soon the world will see whether Madoff's luxury penthouse apartment — perhaps the only former crime scene featuring four fireplaces, a wraparound terrace and closet space galore — also will hit the jackpot on the Manhattan real estate market.

July 24th, 2009 Sculpture at Fla. shopping plaza turns headsDELRAY BEACH, Fla.

July 14th, 2009 NYC skyscraper body ID'd as missing cleaning womanNEW YORK — A body found in a skyscraper's air-conditioning duct was officially identified Monday by the city's medical examiner as that of a missing cleaning woman. Police found the body of Eridania Rodriguez on Saturday after discovering blood leaking from a ventilation shaft at the building near the World Trade Center.

July 9th, 2009 Woman vanishes from NYC office towerNEW YORK — A Manhattan skyscraper in one of the most security-conscious parts of the city has become the scene of an unlikely missing persons mystery. Police are trying to figure out what happened to a cleaning woman who vanished midway through her shift Tuesday evening at an office tower a few hundred feet from the World Trade Center reconstruction site.

July 9th, 2009 Woman vanishes at skyscraper near ground zeroNEW YORK — A Manhattan skyscraper in one of the most security-conscious parts of the city has become the scene of an unlikely missing persons mystery. Police are trying to figure out what happened to a cleaning woman who vanished midway through her shift Tuesday evening at an office tower a few hundred feet from the World Trade Center reconstruction site.

July 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Former 'Sopranos' star James Gandolfini was recently threw out a member of the audience during the performance of his Broadway play 'God Of Carnage'. The actor shoved the intruder after he came up on stage, and occupied his seat during intermission, Contactmusic reports.

June 27th, 2009 PURI - Noted sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik immortalised 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson in sand on the scenic beaches of Puri, Orissa. As tribute to the legendary singer, who had moon walked his way into the hearts of his fans, Patnaik created a four-feet high sand sculpture.

June 5th, 2009 NEW YORK - It actually pays to be Bernie Madoff - ask Paul Cohen. Jersey City resident Cohen read about a casting call for filmmaker Edmund Druilhet's docudrama, "Madoff: Made Off With America" - and guess what - he got the spot, reports The New York Post.

May 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Sir Paul McCartney's London mansion has been blocked from Google Street View after the singer drew security concerns. The former Beatle was said to have been furious after finding users could have an online 360-degree view of his multi-million-pound home in London.

May 14th, 2009 Trustee: Madoff firm was family's piggy bankNEW YORK — The credit card bill is a 30-page study in conspicuous consumption. A quick scan shows a restaurant charge of more than $2,800, $2,000 in spending at a Parisian boutique and $441 at a gourmet bagel shop.

May 13th, 2009 Ivory sculpture in Germany could be world's oldestBERLIN — A 35,000-year-old ivory carving of a busty woman found in a German cave was unveiled Wednesday by archaeologists who believe it is the oldest known sculpture of the human form. The carving found in six fragments in Germany's Hohle Fels cave depicts a woman with a swollen belly, wide-set thighs and large, protruding breasts.