Luciano: Peoria crime gets weird as police seek flower murderers - Peoria Journal Star

Phil Luciano Journal Star columnist @lucianophil

It was murder most foul — and floral.

Under the cloak of darkness, a dozen helpless victims recently were senselessly massacred, leaving Peoria bereft of their innocent beauty. Yet somehow the crime has gone largely unnoticed, perhaps because we’ve become hardened by the onslaught of modern crime.

Or, maybe because they’re flowers.

In a rare outlash of horticultural homicide, Luthy Botanical Garden has lost a dozen eremurus flowers. Though a few young eremurus survive, all 12 mature plants were trampled and ripped to death.

“These flowers bloom just once a year,” stated a chilling report by the Peoria Park District. “ … Now that all of the Eremurus flowers have been damaged, no visitor to the Luthy Botanical Garden will be able to see them this year."

“There are no suspects at this time.”

Zounds! What victim might be next? Your backyard tomato plants? Aunt Mildred’s nosegay?

And what monster could have done this deadly dead? A jealous gardener? A green thumb turned blood red?

Nah. Probably just bored, boneheaded youths.

“From the information so far, we think it’s kids,” says Emily Cahill, executive director of the park district.

And though the crime is weird — who gets their kicks from stomping flowers? — it’s no laughing matter to the park district. A mini crime spree has broken out at Luthy, where vandalism and attempted theft have prompted heightened security.

“Luthy is sort of a target at this point,” Cahill says. “So we’re doing everything we can.”

Luthy is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its five acres host plants in multiple gardens and inside the conservatory. Admission is free, though donations are accepted. Within the past couple of weeks, Luthy has been hit by intruders several times.

In one instance, Cahill says, kids hid inside the building just before closing time, then later tried to break open the donation box. They failed.

“That’s another reason we think it’s kids,” Cahill says. “It’s a donation-driven operation. You’re not going to get a lot out of a donation box.”

Others times lately, Cahill says, youngsters apparently jumped the 8-foot metal fence to meander about. Their possible motivation? “It’s just one of things where they want to be where they’re not supposed to be,” she says.

One of these misadventures claimed the mature eremurus plants. Also known as known as the foxtail lily or desert candle, the perennials look like bottlebrushes, rising upwards of 10 feet tall and bursting with colors: copper, yellow, white, pink and orange.

Three young eremurus plants (about three feet tall) stand out in front of the conservatory, with about five others in the middle of the gardens. That’s where the dozen mature plants majestically stood about six feet tall.

They got knocked down sometime late May 25 or early May 26. Though Cahill says the interlopers likely didn’t go after the eremurus plants specifically — “I don't’ think this was a deliberate act to say, ‘I don’t want those flowers to bloom this year’” — the attack felled all 12 grown-up eremurus, which had just started to bloom.

“They’re just innocent victims,” Cahill says.

Cahill doesn’t understand how hooligans can seek thrills from violating a garden: “Who says, ‘Look at us! We’re tough! We knocked over a plant!’”

Since the intrusions, the park district has increased security measures. But it’s hard to turn a sprawling garden into Fort Knox while maintaining beauty and tranquility.

“Someone asked, ‘Why don’t you have barbed wire (atop the fences), like at the zoo?’” Cahill says. “Well, that doesn’t seem peaceful.”

A handful of the mature plants were cut at the stem and put on display. They'll last just a few more days, instead of years and years as expected.

Each of the plants was valued at $10. But Cahill says the loss goes far beyond money for Luthy Botanical Garden.

“This is the busiest time of the year, with people coming to get ideas for their gardens,” Cahill says. “ … To have (the eremurus flowers) not here is disappointing.”

PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, http://ift.tt/1mNJa4v and (309) 686-3155. Follow him on http://ift.tt/1OGCXUE.

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