Dress that ‘greatly resembles’ stolen Nyong’o gown recovered

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A dress that strongly resembles the custom gown taken from Lupita Nyong'o's hotel room earlier this week has been recovered, a sheriff's official said Friday.

Los Angeles sheriff's spokeswoman Nicole Nishida says the dress found Friday afternoon at a West Hollywood hotel "greatly resembles" the pearl-adorned Calvin Klein Collection by Francisco Costa dress Nyong'o wore to Sunday's Academy Awards. She says detectives are attempting to verify the recovered dress is the same one Nyong'o wore.

"We do have possession of a dress that greatly reassembles the dress that was stolen but I don't think at this time we can 100 percent say it's that dress, but it greatly resembles it," Nishida said.

One of the actress' representatives reported the dress was stolen from Nyong'o's room at the London Hotel in West Hollywood late Wednesday. Authorities said it could have been taken during a broad time frame earlier in the day.

Authorities placed its value at $150,000, although experts say it could have fetched more on the black market.

The recovery of the dress was first reported by celebrity website TMZ.com, which wrote in a post that a person claiming to have taken the gown gave them information about where to find the dress.

The dress recovered Friday afternoon was found in an abandoned bathroom at the London Hotel, sheriff's officials wrote in a press release.

Nyong'o won an Oscar in 2014 for her role in "Twelve Years a Slave" and was a presenter at Sunday's ceremony. Her publicists declined comment Friday evening.

The 31-year-old actress has become a darling of Hollywood's red carpets in the past two years, with commenters and fans praising her fashion choices. She accessorized the dress with Chopard diamond drop earrings and three Chopard diamond rings.

Before the awards ceremony, Nyong'o told The Associated Press on the red carpet, "I'm just wearing my diamonds and pearls. My homage to Prince," referring to a popular song by the musician.

"There are a lot of collectors out there who are very private and have private collections of stolen merchandise," said style expert and fashion commentator Mary Alice Stephenson. "Some of these dresses have global fame as big as any Van Gogh."

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