Just weeks before the 72nd Academy Awards in 2000, a shipment of 55 gold-plated Oscar statuettes vanished. They were stolen from a trucking company loading dock in Bell, California. The Academy was thrown into a panic, as there weren't enough backup trophies for the ceremony. A massive search ensued, and most of the statuettes were eventually found in a trash dumpster by a man named Willie Fulgear, who was looking for cardboard boxes. He was rewarded with $50,000 and two front-row tickets to the ceremony. However, three of the stolen Oscars were never recovered and remain missing to this day. This bizarre crime led the Academy to significantly tighten its security protocols for the manufacturing and transport of the world's most famous trophies.