The theft from the garden of the noted artist's lakefront home was discovered by a caretaker and reported Aug. 31. Police had not publicized the theft at the request of Fredericks' estate.
''A report was filed in the theft and the matter remains under investigation,'' Police Cmdr. Peter Kauffman told The Detroit News for a story yesterday. He would not elaborate.
Pamela Panghorn, who manages the artist's estate, declined to comment.
The four missing statues, each weighing about 30 pounds, include a baboon and fish and part of the artist's ''Wild Kingdom'' collection. They were among more than a dozen larger sculptures which decorated the garden of Fredericks' home.
The stolen statues are conservatively valued at $32,000 but are considered irreplaceable.
Fredericks, whose work graces numerous Detroit-area institutions, died April 4, 1998, at the age of 90. His wife, Rosalind, lives in Vermont and last visited the home in May, neighbors said.
The sprawling English manor-style home was listed for $2.7 million several months ago and has been visited by several potential buyers.
Fredericks taught sculpture during the 1930s and 1940s at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills.
Some of his better-known sculptures in Metro Detroit include the 26-foot tall ''Spirit of Detroit'' outside Detroit's City-County Building and the flying pterodactyls at the Detroit Zoo.
In early July, someone defaced another one of Fredericks sculpture, a nine-foot tall obelisk topped with a stylized eagle, that was commissioned by the First Presbyterian Church.
Associate Pastor Louise Westfall found spray-painted slogans such as ''God is Dead'' and ''Pot Heads Rule'' as she arrived to prepare for services.
Police do not believe that incident is related to the recent theft.
09-10-99
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