PHOTOS: Vandals damage popular Stanford University statue

STANFORD, Calif. (KGO) -- Stanford University police are asking for the public's help after a popular statue was vandalized. The Angel of Grief statue at the Stanford Family Mausoleum is now missing a limb after someone broke or cut off the left forearm.

Our media partner the San Jose Mercury News took photos showing the damage to the white marble statue from its site in a wooded arboretum.

Officials say the missing arm is valued at $15,000 to $20,000, but it represents so much more.

The statue is a replica of a piece admired in a Roman cemetery by Jane Stanford, who founded the university with her husband Leland Sr. She erected it in 1901 to honor the loss of her beloved brother Henry Clay Lathrop

The arm has been met with problems before. It was damaged in the 1906 earthquake and stolen in the 1990s.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.