The second-floor balcony of Parker Place Condominiums is missing its signature resident — Claire the mannequin.Claire, fondly named by its owners, is thought to have been stolen sometime between Sunday night and Tuesday morning after spring break.Mark Accardo, renewable natural resources junior, lives in the apartment where Claire once resided. Accardo said he came home from spring break Sunday, April 11, and noticed the mannequin was still on the balcony where he and his roommates had left it.One of his roommates, Bryce Percle, petroleum engineering junior, said he was the first to realize it was missing that Tuesday.”I hadn’t seen her in a while, so I went outside, and then I saw she wasn’t there,” Percle said.The third roommate, Drew Collins, international studies sophomore, said he and his roommates left the mannequin out all the time, only taking her inside in case of bad weather. He said they didn’t think anything of leaving it on the balcony during spring break.”The last thing we thought was someone might steal her,” Collins said.He and his roommates created a Facebook group titled “Have you seen this mannequin?!?!” — currently boasting 1,748 members. “It’s really helped us,” Accardo said. “If we mention it in a small group of people, chances are at least one person knows about the group or knows that she’s missing.”This is the second mannequin the roommates have owned. The first was left on the balcony during the summer and was ruined by the sun.Percle said their old roommate kept the first mannequin on the balcony for years, and it’s been popular among students since the beginning.Percle said he and his roommates would hear people below talking about Claire whenever they sit on the balcony. He also heard intoxicated people talk about wanting to steal it.”The funniest is when guys from out of town who don’t know anything about her try to hit on her,” Percle said.Collins said his apartment doesn’t feel the same without his silent roommate. The roommates created a Facebook profile for Claire in 2007, and she currently has 149 friends.”She’s an icon for the apartment,” Collins said. “She was decoration, but now that she’s missing, I miss her.”Collins said he and his roommates may consider buying a new mannequin, but they’re determined to find Claire.”It’s almost like we have to get another one — this is the mannequin apartment now,” he said.Melissa Leblanc, mathematics freshman, said she’s noticed the mannequin before and has no idea who could have taken it.”Everyone saw it, so it really could have been anyone,” she said.Percle said he and his roommates are offering to throw a party for anyone who gives them information leading to Claire’s return.
 
 
 
—-Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]