Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist

Two men posing as police steal 13 works

Between 1:24 and 2:45 a.m., two men posing as Boston police gained entry, isolated and restrained the guards, and looted the Dutch Room, Short Gallery and Blue Room. Motion records, the guards' accounts and the condition of the galleries provide a detailed but incomplete reconstruction of their 81 minutes inside.

1. Two men wearing police-style uniforms parked near the Palace Road employee entrance and rang the night bell, saying they were responding to a disturbance.
2. Rick Abath admitted the men through the locked vestibule, contrary to museum protocol, after viewing them on the exterior security camera.
3. One man drew Abath away from the security desk—and its only direct police panic button—by claiming there might be a warrant for his arrest. Abath radioed Randy Hestand back from patrol.
4. The intruders handcuffed both guards, disclosed that this was a robbery, covered their eyes and heads with duct tape, and took them separately to the basement.
5. With the guards secured to a pipe and workbench, the thieves controlled the building. They had subdued the staff in roughly fifteen minutes without triggering a police response.
6. Motion-detector records first placed the thieves in the second-floor Dutch Room. They smashed a proximity alarm and removed major Dutch works, crudely cutting two Rembrandt canvases from their stretchers.
7. From the Dutch Room they took Vermeer's The Concert; Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee, A Lady and Gentleman in Black, and small self-portrait etching; Flinck's Landscape with an Obelisk; and an ancient Chinese gu. A larger Rembrandt self-portrait was moved but abandoned.
8. One thief entered the Short Gallery while the other remained in the Dutch Room. They attempted to dismantle a framed Napoleonic flag, then took its eagle finial and five small Degas works on paper.
9. The thieves removed Manet's Chez Tortoni from the first-floor Blue Room. The motion system recorded no intruder there, making the exact timing and path of this removal an enduring evidentiary anomaly.
10. They revisited the guards, then removed the exterior-camera videotapes and motion-system printouts from the security office. The motion data also remained stored on a hard drive, preserving much of their route.
11. The employee entrance opened for the first removal trip. Investigators believe the art and other material were carried to the waiting vehicle in more than one load.
12. The side door opened a final time and the thieves departed. They had spent 81 minutes inside and left both guards restrained in the basement.

Morning staff discover the robbery and police free the guards

The arriving day shift could not obtain entry or contact the night guards. The security director entered with keys, found the watch desk unattended and called police. Officers searched the building and found Abath and Hestand still restrained in separate basement locations at about 8:15 a.m.

FBI releases security footage from the preceding night

The footage showed Abath admitting an unauthorized visitor through the employee entrance on March 17. Public speculation followed, but later review identified the visitor as unrelated to the robbery; it is not footage of either thief.

Two men posing as police steal 13 works

Between 1:24 and 2:45 a.m., two men posing as Boston police gained entry, isolated and restrained the guards, and looted the Dutch Room, Short Gallery and Blue Room. Motion records, the guards' accounts and the condition of the galleries provide a detailed but incomplete reconstruction of their 81 minutes inside.

1. Two men wearing police-style uniforms parked near the Palace Road employee entrance and rang the night bell, saying they were responding to a disturbance.
2. Rick Abath admitted the men through the locked vestibule, contrary to museum protocol, after viewing them on the exterior security camera.
3. One man drew Abath away from the security desk—and its only direct police panic button—by claiming there might be a warrant for his arrest. Abath radioed Randy Hestand back from patrol.
4. The intruders handcuffed both guards, disclosed that this was a robbery, covered their eyes and heads with duct tape, and took them separately to the basement.
5. With the guards secured to a pipe and workbench, the thieves controlled the building. They had subdued the staff in roughly fifteen minutes without triggering a police response.
6. Motion-detector records first placed the thieves in the second-floor Dutch Room. They smashed a proximity alarm and removed major Dutch works, crudely cutting two Rembrandt canvases from their stretchers.
7. From the Dutch Room they took Vermeer's The Concert; Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee, A Lady and Gentleman in Black, and small self-portrait etching; Flinck's Landscape with an Obelisk; and an ancient Chinese gu. A larger Rembrandt self-portrait was moved but abandoned.
8. One thief entered the Short Gallery while the other remained in the Dutch Room. They attempted to dismantle a framed Napoleonic flag, then took its eagle finial and five small Degas works on paper.
9. The thieves removed Manet's Chez Tortoni from the first-floor Blue Room. The motion system recorded no intruder there, making the exact timing and path of this removal an enduring evidentiary anomaly.
10. They revisited the guards, then removed the exterior-camera videotapes and motion-system printouts from the security office. The motion data also remained stored on a hard drive, preserving much of their route.
11. The employee entrance opened for the first removal trip. Investigators believe the art and other material were carried to the waiting vehicle in more than one load.
12. The side door opened a final time and the thieves departed. They had spent 81 minutes inside and left both guards restrained in the basement.

Morning staff discover the robbery and police free the guards

The arriving day shift could not obtain entry or contact the night guards. The security director entered with keys, found the watch desk unattended and called police. Officers searched the building and found Abath and Hestand still restrained in separate basement locations at about 8:15 a.m.

Federal searches focus on Robert Gentile

Searches connected to Gentile recovered information of investigative interest, including a handwritten list of the works and values, but no missing art. Further searches and questioning likewise failed to establish a verified custody chain.

The Youngworth–Connor lead produces disputed paint evidence

Tom Mashberg was taken to a darkened location and shown what was represented as Rembrandt's stolen seascape. Later paint samples were old but did not match that Rembrandt; negotiations over immunity and Myles Connor's release collapsed without an authenticated recovery.

The Youngworth–Connor lead produces disputed paint evidence

Tom Mashberg was taken to a darkened location and shown what was represented as Rembrandt's stolen seascape. Later paint samples were old but did not match that Rembrandt; negotiations over immunity and Myles Connor's release collapsed without an authenticated recovery.

The Youngworth–Connor lead produces disputed paint evidence

Tom Mashberg was taken to a darkened location and shown what was represented as Rembrandt's stolen seascape. Later paint samples were old but did not match that Rembrandt; negotiations over immunity and Myles Connor's release collapsed without an authenticated recovery.