Museum Director Eric Taylor said photographs and other items, such as an Edison phonograph and old telephones, have disappeared from the library in recent months, adding that the losses were so subtle he thought some of the missing items had been mislaid. “It was occurring over such a long period of time that I was beginning to question my sanity,” Taylor said in the April 5 Everett Daily Herald.
Police searched the unidentified suspect's apartment, which is in the same building as the museum, and found hundreds of old photographs, some of which were taken from the museum. Authorities believe the 53-year-old man, who has a history of felony drug and theft convictions, was able to obtain a set of keys to the museum.
Dilgard, who earlier had paid the man, a frequent library patron, $75 for historic photos, became suspicious when he remembered seeing one of the images in a museum photo album. A check of museum records confirmed that the photo was part of an album of images that had vanished months earlier.
“Everyone is unique, and he [Dilgard] is unique in a special kind of way,” library Director Mark Nesse said. “The guy is like a human sponge.”
Posted April 14, 2003.