$5,000 reward offered for return of stolen collar of President Warren G. Harding's dog

In a Marion mystery that was never solved, Warren G. Harding's dog collar has been missing since it was stolen from the second floor of the Harding Home in 2012.

Now, an anonymous local has offered a $5,000 reward to see it returned no-questions-asked by the end of the year - 10 years since it was taken.

A listener of the "Now With Scott Spears" show hosted by local radio personality Scott Spears, the anonymous donor first offered a $1,000 reward for the collar last year spurred by the excitement of seeing Lady Justice, another stolen Marion treasure, returned to her home at the Marion County Courthouse.

News:Lady of Justice 'kidnapper' from 1952 witnesses her return to Marion County Courthouse

When the collar wasn't returned, the anonymous local upped the cash reward to $5,000 as of last week, Spears explained.

Thief stole collar of 'Laddie Boy' from Harding Home in 2012

The antique collar of Marion's hometown president belonged to Harding's Airedale Terrier, "Laddie Boy," and the dog's name is known to be engraved on the collar surrounded by hearts. Laddie Boy was the White House's first celebrity dog, and he famously had his own chair for Cabinet meetings.

At the time, there wasn't a security system in the Harding Home, and the thief climbed up to a second-story window with a ladder and broke a window to get inside. A groundskeeper discovered the ladder outside the historic home the next morning.

Harding: From Marion to the White House, a true American story

"That’s the only thing that they took, so it was always kind of an odd story," Spears noted.

"It never was retrieved, and to my knowledge there never were any clues or suspects or anything, so it really was an odd thing, because of how it went down."

$5,000 reward offered in hopes of unraveling mystery of stolen collar

According to Spears, the anonymous individual is just looking to see it returned for the historic value to Marion's kids and is hoping the $5,000 reward draws in tips and clues to solving the mystery or seeing the collar restored to the Harding Home.

To claim the reward, an individual should contact Spears at the radio station who will be in contact with the Harding Home to verify the authenticity of the collar. The radio station can be reached at 740-383-9944 or by email at osukid2006@aol.com.

Warren G. Harding:A newspaperman who became the president

Spears said something that has made the story even more peculiar is that even through small-town word-of-mouth, the item still hasn't been located. He feels hopeful the reward will encourage whoever has the collar to return it, explaining he thinks $5,000 is probably more than it is worth monetarily.

“The most I ever heard over all these years is, ‘We think we know who has it,’ you know people would say that, ‘We think we know who has it, and they’ll never return it,’” Spears said.

No questions asked: 'Our main interest is just getting the collar back'

Affirming there would be no questions asked of whoever returns the collar, Spears wanted to make the intentions of the search and the safety of the individual who comes forward clear.

“They don’t have to give any information of their own. They can send somebody else – however they want to do it,” Spears said.

History:Marion residents still honor President Harding 100 years later

“I think it’s just a trust issue – that we’re not going to go to the police or anything like that – which we’re not going to do, mainly because we wouldn’t even know if that’s the person who took it. We’d really have no way to know anyway. Our main interest is just getting the collar back."

Story by: Sophia Veneziano (740) 564 - 5243 ∣ sveneziano@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: $5,000 reward offered for finder of stolen collar of Harding's dog