Living statue performer's 'real' partner mistaken for corpse by sheriff deputies

FOX 2 - Robert Shangle's last-minute Halloween costume years ago - led him to become a living statue.

"I bought a bunch of paint, painted my clothes, took a stuffed animal dog, painted that, put make up on my face and just stood still all night and won a trip to Hollywood," he said.

And as they say - the rest is history. Shangle has performed at fairs, festivals even global competitions.

On Thursday night he was in Oakland County for an event dressed as an old-timey gentleman on a first date with a very proper lady. But it was after the event when things got weird and police got involved.

Robert was staying at Springhill Suites in Auburn Hills with his date.

"So 'she' rode with me in the car and I went to carry her in - I’ll throw a sheet over her to protect her," Shangle said. "I don’t know if they caught it on security camera, or if someone happened to pass by me and see me carrying her. And she had a sheet over her and I’m in full make-up."

He was taking all the stage make-up off when he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I see this sheriff’s badge," he said.

They had gotten a call about some unusual, possibly suspicious behavior in the hotel lobby.

"So he’s kind of asking me a couple questions - and I think I mentioned, unusual like carrying somebody?" Shangle said. "'Yeah' and they came in and saw that it was a real statue.

"And just the look of relief on their face, they could see it was statue. Just the look on their face, was very businesslike to oh this is funny."

The living statue may be a real live man from Kent County but his date, was just a statue.

A photo for prosperity, and not one Facebook post but two, and the sheriff’s office also got in on the laugh.

And as they say, all’s well that ends well.