NEW ORLEANS — The man wanted in a bizarre crime, involving a number of Jackson Square artists whose carts and artwork were tossed into the river, surrendered to police. The suspect, Landon Semones, turned himself in Monday morning and faces eleven counts of theft.
However, it was how some of that stolen art was found that caught our attention.
For artist Christine Roy, these paintings have one incredible story.
"I was shocked they were in good shape," she said.
It starts two weeks ago, when her art cart was pushed in the Mississippi.
"I was like how do they do that?" she asked. "How does a person do that?"
With everything gone, including her inspiration, Roy's career was now a blank canvas.
"That's our livelihood," she said. "That's what I do for a living, full-time."
The story doesn't stop there. In fact, it takes us 26 miles about, down the Mississippi River to Braithwaite, Louisiana.
"We usually go looking for logs or something," said 13-year-old Isaac Gremillion.
Gremillion was with his cousin last week and ended up being at the right place at the right time.
We asked him what the chances were for something like this to happen and he says one in a million. Because lodged in some trees along the river bank, was Roy's blue cart, with everything inside.
"It's a box, we saw it had two locks on it so we thought this was very important," he remembers. "The box was full of water, if we didn't get it out soon all the paintings would've been ruined. So we had to hurry it up."
"Then I get a text saying 'Would you please contact me, it's very important,'" remembers Roy. "When I got to the house the next day, I couldn't believe the care they took with my wet, soggy art. I got my art back. But I wasn't just happy about getting the art back as I was meeting this family. That's what made me happy and the care they took when they discovered my work and brought it into their home. I couldn't believe it."
"She came here and she was so excited and so happy and that made me happy and made my week," Gremilion said. "It's always good to do a good thing. I'd like to thank my cousin for helping me. It was a cool experience that we'll probably tell our great-grand kids, it'll always be there."
Gremillion's actions made a dark situation light.
"And it gave me inspiration again," Roy says. "I lost some of my inspiration to create when this happened. I just didn't feel anything."
It also brought a lifetime of friendship, between two people who no matter the distance, will always be connected through art.
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