Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Campus

Case closed.

After an agonizing week during which no leads or suspects arose surrounding the disappearance of Travelocity's Roaming Gnome on campus, employees at Northwestern's Transportation Center, located at 600 Foster St., can breathe a little easier: The Roaming Gnome was found late last Friday. The "spokesgnome," a two-foot tall figurine and star of Travelocity's ad campaigns, had been missing since Oct. 12.

Transportation Center intern Diamond James discovered the Roaming Gnome at around 5 p.m. Friday. James, a Medill senior and former Daily staffer, was looking for shopping bags in the center's lower level kitchen when she happened upon the Roaming Gnome shoved next to an industrial refrigerator.

Upon her discovery, other staff members were summoned into the kitchen to remove the gnome from his temporary dwelling.

"It didn't really hit until I saw him," said Jennifer Crosby, a Transportation Center employee. "When I saw him, I erupted in joyous expression. I grabbed him and swung him around."

Many of the center's employees shared Crosby's excitement.

"Everybody was like, 'our gnome is back!'" said Diana Marek, the center's assistant director.

According to Marek, although the Roaming Gnome "isn't talking so much just yet," judging by his wide grin and still-starched robe, it seems as though he was not seriously harmed.

After the Transportation Center employees reunited with their inanimate friend, they placed the gnome in a "secure and undisclosed" location deep within the building.

The center's employees are still trying to get to the bottom of the gnome's reappearance. Marek said she has several theories regarding the Roaming Gnome's return.

"At the time of the disappearance, someone stashed the gnome behind the fridge to retrieve it at a later time," she said, explaining the first theory.

Alternatively, the "gnomenapper" might have been overcome by remorse and placed the figurine back in the building, she said.

Continued...

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