Call Scooby-Doo and the gang, because we’ve got a mystery to solve.
Cerritos College had a time capsule sealed in 1981 under the premise that it would be reopened again in 2006 as part of the school’s historic 50thanniversary, and then again in 2031 to celebrate 50 years since its initial sealing in 1981.
In 2006, the time capsule, which was held on display in the library in a plexiglass case in between ceremonies, was opened for the first time since 1981 and then resealed.
However, sometime between 2006 and 2009, the time capsule was stolen. It was discovered in a pawn shop and was placed in the care of the Cerritos College Campus Police until it arrived at the doorstep of Carl Bengston, dean of the library and learning resource center.
According to the 2006 police report, the capsule went missing 2-3 weeks after it was sealed Aug. 22, 2006.
Bengston said that he knew little about the mystery surrounding the time capsule because he has only worked at Cerritos College since spring 2009.
“The case was empty when I arrived and when I asked about it, the staff said, ‘oh it was stolen,'” Bengston said.
He said that Chief Bukowiecki gave him a call asking him if he’d want the time capsule, to which Bengston replied yes, so Bukowiecki brought him the time capsule last semester.
Bengston said he wasn’t sure how it was stolen, but he had heard about the incident.
“The word that I’ve gotten is that basically somebody or a couple of people just picked it up and walked out with it, out the front door, and were not observed.”
The remaining contents of the time capsule included items concerning Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Arizona memorial.
Also inside the capsule was a newspaper documenting the launch of Space Shuttle Columbia, NASA’s first true space shuttle, and what looks like a tile from the actual shuttle, although there has been no confirmation to what they are or where they came from.
“Apparently, not all of the contents were retrieved, but some things were,” Bengston said.
