--- description: An iconic mechanical clown that went missing from its home at a shuttered Wichita, Kansas amusement park more than 10 years ago ago turned up... title: Iconic Wichita Clown Recovered From Sex Offender's Home image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02029d8a5a0f36c6/698780318e06014baa45a691/louie-the-clown-retur_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Iconic Wichita Clown Recovered From Sex Offender's Home by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 20, 2015 3:09 AM CUT  Joyland's organ-playing mascot Louie the Clown appears at a daily police briefing in the Wichita City Hall police headquarters, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, in Wichita, Kan. Joyland's organ-playing mascot Louie the Clown appears at a daily police briefing in the Wichita City Hall police headquarters, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, in Wichita, Kan.Mike Hutmacher—AP by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 20, 2015 3:09 AM CUT An iconic mechanical clown that went missing from its home at a shuttered Wichita, Kansas amusement park more than 10 years ago ago turned up Tuesday in the house of a convicted sex offender, authorities said. Louie the Clown, a life-sized, perma-smiling, cone-hatted doll, spent decades at the keys of a Wurlitzer organ at the Joyland Amusement Park. Generations of locals remember him from their childhood. But Joyland closed in 2004, and Louie disappeared from the property a year or two later. In 2010, Louie was reported stolen, triggering public fascination with his whereabouts. Then Wichita police got a phone tip that led them to the home of Damian Mayes, 39, who used to build and repair organs at the park and is now serving a prison term for child sex crimes… [_Read the rest of this story from our partners at NBC News._](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/iconic-wichita-clown-recovered-sex-offenders-home-n309216?cid=par-time-article%5F20150220 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3716097/iconic-wichita-clown-recovered-from-sex-offenders-home/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3716097/iconic-wichita-clown-recovered-from-sex-offenders-home/"},"headline":"Iconic Wichita Clown Recovered From Sex Offender's Home","datePublished":"2015-02-20T03:09:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:17:02.276Z","description":"An iconic mechanical clown that went missing from its home at a shuttered Wichita, Kansas amusement park more than 10 years ago ago turned up...","url":"https://time.com/3716097/iconic-wichita-clown-recovered-from-sex-offenders-home/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02029d8a5a0f36c6/698780318e06014baa45a691/louie-the-clown-retur_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02029d8a5a0f36c6/698780318e06014baa45a691/louie-the-clown-retur_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Louie the Clown Returns","caption":"Louie the Clown Returns","creditText":"Mike Hutmacher—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3716097/iconic-wichita-clown-recovered-from-sex-offenders-home/","name":"Iconic Wichita Clown Recovered From Sex Offender's Home"}}]}] ```