It appears as though investigators in Boston are closer than ever to solving a 25-year-old mystery behind a $500 million art heist, one of the largest in history.
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On Thursday, the FBI released surveilllance video from the night before the heist in hopes of generating new tips. The same cameras were trained on the scene the next day when the robbery went down, but the thieves grabbed the film as they made their getaway. And in the release, they say that admitting the man was against museum policy..
The thieves tied the guards on duty to pipes in the basement and roamed through the galleries, handpicking their wares.
Investigators have kept an eye on him and his bank accounts for the simple reason that, according to F.B.I. statistics, most art heists involve someone on the inside.
CBS News tried repeatedly to reach Abath, but our messages have gone unanswered.
It is understood that the artworks were moved to Connecticut and Philadelphia over the past 25 years and that “someone has seen the art hanging on a wall, placed above a mantel[piece], or stored in an attic”.
About the release of that video now, Kowenhoven said: “Somebody might have been outside, we’re just hoping to possibly trigger somebody’s memory that will give us that lead and hopefully identify that individual”. They had hats, badges, they looked like cops, and I let them in. Authorities have said that on March 18, 1990, two men dressed in Boston police uniforms gained entrance to the museum by telling the security guard at the watch desk that they were responding to a report of a disturbance. “I can’t deal with this right now”, she told the publication before hanging up.
Gentile, vigorously denies having any involvement in or knowledge of the Gardner job, as does Abath.
FILE – In this March 21, 1990 file photo, a security guard stands outside the Dutch Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, where robbers stole more than a dozen works of art by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, Manet and others, in an early morning robbery March 18, 1990. The paintings have never been found and nobody has been charged in the robbery.
The case was reopened in 2013, and a $5 million reward is being offered for any leads that result in the artwork being returned in good condition.
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The video, which investigators are said to have viewed for the first time only relatively recently, shows the suspicious character was allowed to enter the museum through a side door, the same door two thieves disguised as police officers used to bluff their way in the following night.
