A stolen painting worth $ 100 million was found in the bedroom of a quiet married couple

Last August, among the property of a deceased couple from Arizona, a picture of Willem de Kooning stolen by 31 a year ago was found costing about 100 million dollars. The police until today had no versions about the thieves. But it seems that everything suggests that the picture was stolen by the owners themselves.

Stolen picture. Photo: University of Arizona Museum of Art

The Alter couple spent Thanksgiving on November 22, 1985 in Tucson, Arizona. And the next day, two people stole the painting “Woman - Ochre” by de Kooning from the local art museum of the University of Arizona, he says Air force.

According to the security guard, while the woman was talking to him, the man went to the second floor of the museum, cut the painting out of the frame and, folding it, carried it away in his coat. The police were never able to find the kidnappers - there were no cameras in the museum at that time, and there were no fingerprints left. The only clue the police had was that someone saw the thieves leaving in a red car.

How to find a picture

Jerry and Rita Alter lived a quiet life in the village of Cliff, New Mexico, where they retired from New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a music teacher and wrote travel books, and she was a speech therapist. Former colleagues remembered Rita as a sweet and quiet woman.

The alters lived in a village with a population of 293 people for the rest of their lives. They worked in schools, loved traveling, and visited 140 countries and seven continents. They have tens of thousands of photographs.

Jerry died in 2012, Rita outlived him by five years. After her death last year, Rita's nephew Ron Roseman began selling property and real estate. He invited an expert on antiques to evaluate the property. All Alter's goods were eventually sold for two thousand dollars and put up in an antique shop.

Several customers in a row recognized de Kooning's painting in the store. Then the employees hid the painting in the toilet and started Googling it. This is how they learned that they had a work of art worth more than 100 million dollars.

One of the employees, David van Aucker, called the museum. “I came across a student administrator, and I told her: “I think I have a painting here that was stolen from you. She says: “What picture?” I say, "De Kooning." And she: “Hang on the phone, please.”

The painting spent one night at Van Aucker's house, and the next evening a commission from the museum arrived. “She walked up to the painting, fell to her knees and looked at it. You could feel the electricity,” he describes museum curator Olivia Miller’s encounter with the painting to the Daily Press.

A new investigation into the case of theft of the painting has been lasting for a year, and is being led by the FBI. The bureau refused to comment on the case until it was closed.

What evidence points to the Alter?

Until now, it was not clear exactly how the picture came to the spouses. Their relatives knew nothing about it.

“We have no idea where they got it from, whether they participated in a crime or bought it from someone. Ultimately, there are a lot of coincidences,” Roseman told The Republic.

However, all the chains examined by the media this year led to Alters. In addition, the other day a photo of the couple from that same Thanksgiving was found - relatives provided it to the Arizona Republic.

In the photo, Jerry and Rita are sitting at the dinner table, smiling directly at the camera. Jerry is wearing glasses that are exactly the same as the identikit of the criminal. Rita is not wearing glasses, but the outline of her face matches the identikit.

Police at the time described the thieves as "a man between 25 and 30 years old with curly hair, olive skin, a wiry mustache and glasses" and "a woman wearing a scarf and 'granny glasses'." Jerry Alter was 54 years old on the day of the theft.

Several people told the New York Times that the Alters were driving a red sports car, similar to the one they had noticed on the day of the crime. In a conversation with the Arizona Republic, Rita's nephew noted that the couple almost always bought red cars.

According to the publication, there are photos in which Rita is wearing a red coat, similar to what was on the criminal. And besides, real estate agent Ruth Sivulf, who sold the house of Alter, told the Silver City Sun News publication that she had taken a suitcase from her house, in which she found glasses and a scarf similar to those described by the police.

In KOB 4, they note that in the 1985 diary of the year, where Altera painstakingly recorded what they eat, where they go and what medicines they take, the Thanksgiving Day page of 1985 of the year remains empty.

According to Sun News, more than a million dollars were found in the couple's accounts after their death. Roseman then suggested to WFAA that the Alters were simply "being very frugal."

People who knew the couple agree that it was difficult to suspect the perpetrators. Opinions about whether they are similar to the identikit, the pair of friends diverge.

“The sketch of the suspect, aged 55-60, resembles Mr. Alter, who was 54 at the time. But the young man, described as 25-30, resembles their son, Joseph Alter, who was 23 at the time,” argues the New York Times.

The publications could not find the couple’s two children, Joseph and Barbara. A couple of family acquaintances told the NY Times that Joseph had psychological problems and had been hospitalized on and off since the 1980s.

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