After an anonymous caller reported having taken actress Lupita Nyong’o’s pearl-adorned dress to find out if it was real, investigators have recovered a gown they believe to be the missing garment, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Friday.
The Calvin Klein dress, valued at $150,000, was stolen from Nyong’o’s room at the The London West Hollywood Hotel on Wednesday evening, the Sheriff’s Department had said Thursday.
The 2014 Oscar-winner had worn the dress to the Academy Awards on Sunday, making many best-dressed lists.
Detectives believed the dress was taken some time between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said Thursday. Nyong’o was not in the room at the time of the theft, according to a sheriff’s news release.
Celebrity gossip website TMZ.com reported that TMZ was contacted by a man who said he returned the dress to a hotel bathroom Friday after stealing it from Nyong’o’s room. He said he removed several pearls from the dress and had them assessed in the garment district.
“We’re told they weren’t real,” the TMZ post read.
TMZ said it reported the call to authorities, who discovered the dress.
Sheriff’s Lt. Michael White said a report came in from a “media source” at 3 p.m., and the dress was found at the location described: in a black garbage bag underneath a bathroom counter in the second floor of hotel. The caller said the pearls on the dress were fake, White said at West Hollywood Station Friday evening.
“We believe this dress is the dress that was stolen from the London hotel,” White said. “We cannot absolutely say that that’s the dress, but it resembles the dress she wore the night of the Oscars.”
While White answered reporter questions about the dress theft and recovery, the gown was on display in an open black garment bag.
Questions about the authenticity of the “pearls” on the dress would not affect the investigation, White said, noting that many designer dresses are highly valued without being adored with jewels. Investigators would have to assume the pearls are real until a representative of the dressmaker can tell them otherwise, White said.
The dress appears to be intact, though some smaller pearls were falling off, White said. The gown will be kept in custody until picked up by the victim or the maker.
“We’re still investigating the theft of a stolen dress and a burglary,” White said. “We have lots of interesting things that happen in West Hollywood. … It’s just another day in West Hollywood.”
Surveillance footage from the hotel will be reviewed, he said.
