A quick note, there's a mention of sexual violence in this episode, so it may not be appropriate

for all listeners. This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX.

I'm Lizzie Peabody. On a warm spring day in 1988,

on a warm spring day in 1988, in a shopping mall outside Chicago, Marilyn Richardson finally found what she was looking for in an unlikely place.

It was kind of shady, you know, shadowy there in the storage area.

So I wanted more pictures and I asked one of the security guards, could I possibly go back in

and take a few more pictures just by myself.

So he said sure.

This is Marilyn.

Shall we all use first names?

Yes.

Fine. She's an art historian and independent curator.

She's also a sleuth.

And on that day in 1988,

armed with a disposable camera,

she peered into the cramped storeroom of a suburban shopping mall

to find a masterpiece that had been missing for a hundred years. A queen carved in marble, the sculpture called the death of Cleopatra.

But the sculpture looked less than queenly in its new home.

It was surrounded by the seasonal decorations, you know, so there's

a Cleopatra with Thanksgiving turkeys and Frosty the snowman and Christmas whatever is and so you

know it was stored away there happily happily you know it was it was indoors

the sculpture was indoors, but a quick glance hinted that hadn't always been the case.

...