Someone or something swiped Darth Vader from Brenda Hogge’s backyard pond in northeast Medford, and she wants her fancy and valuable mega-koi fish back.

The koi, which measures almost 20 inches long, is jet-black with blue hue on the tip of its tail, and it disappeared along with three smaller fish sometime Wednesday from the Hogge’s pond at their Valley View Drive home.

"When he swims toward you he looks so sinister, like Darth Vader," said Hogge, 58, who works at North Medford High School. "But he’s so sweet. He’ll eat right out of your hand.

"We love him and we miss him and we want him back," she said.

Darth, a koi that could live in captivity for a century, is one of 11 various-sized koi that inhabit the family’s 10- by-15 foot pond.

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In his eight years there, Darth has survived attacks from a blue heron and an egret, relying on his darkness to help him hide in the 2-foot-deep pond, Hogge said.

A search of the pond area Wednesday showed no signs of a bird or raccoon raid, leaving Hogge to suspect that a human stole the fish, she said.

"I would rather think a goose or something took them instead of a person," she said. "What mean-spirited person would do something so scummy?"

It could be the money.

Black koi that size can sell for anything from $150 to well into the thousands, depending upon its color, size and subspecies.

"A 20-inch koi is not something cheap," said Dennis Trost at Southern Oregon Nursery, which sells fish for ponds. "It could be worth a lot of money. It all depends on the quality of the fish."

Koi are sold on the Internet, but high-end koi are tough to sell, Trost said.

Hogge said a koi dealer once told her the fish was worth $1,800 and she even considered leaving it to a family member in her will. Though her husband, Roland Hogge, is an insurance salesman, the koi was not insured.

Hogge has reported the missing koi to Medford police.

Hogge asked that anyone with information about Darth to telephone 779-8746.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com