How an unassuming couple pulled off £120,000,000 artwork heist
An ordinary middle-aged couple led a double life of luxury after allegedly stealing a valuable masterpiece from an art gallery.
Jerry and Rita Alter had a seemingly unassuming life, although with surprisingly lavish trips out of their New Mexico home.
But they had a secret side hustle that most people only see in heist films.
The couple, now deceased, are suspected of having stolen multiple artworks, including a painting by Willem de Kooning worth around £120,000,000.
Now the FBI is reportedly working to track down two other paintings that were found in the Alters’ home – Victor Higgins’ ‘Aspens’ and Joseph Henry Sharp’s ‘Indian Boy in Full Dress,’ the Guardian reports.
Art heists in disguise
Willem de Kooning’s painting ‘Woman-Ochre’ was stolen from an art museum in Arizona, in the mid-1980s.
After Jerry died, it was discovered hanging behind their bedroom door in Cliff, New Mexico.
Despite their modest income, Rita, a speech therapist, and Jerry, a teacher, were able to travel around the world, with FBI estimating that they visited around 145 countries in total.
FBI said Alter’s nephew told them that Rita had more than $1,000,000 in bonds before her death, while her salary was only around $16,000, Daily Mail reports.
Their wealth had been reportedly built up from various inheritances.
The mysterious couple has even been the subject of a 2022 documentary film called The Thief Collector.
Their travel agent, who was interviewed for it, said Rita and Jerry were ‘adrenaline junkies,’ who loved to fly to one country but then pay people smugglers to get the secretly to another location.
A family photo has revealed that Rita and Jerry, who have two children, were in Tucson the day before the heist, Daily Mail reports.
How de Kooning’s painting ended up hanging at the Alters’ home remains a mystery as their involvement has always been unconfirmed.
Tim Carpenter, senior adviser to the FBI Art Crime Team, said: ‘They took that to the grave with them, unfortunately.’
It was stolen when a man and woman walked into the museum shortly after the security guard opened the doors a day after Thanksgiving 1985, the outlet reports.
While the man walked upstairs to tour the second floor, the woman stopped to chat with the security guard for around 15 minutes until the couple rushed out.
The security guard became suspicious and went to check the second floor, where he found that de Kooning’s ‘Woman-Ochre’ painting had been cut from the frame and hidden under the man’s clothing.
The mysterious couple was seen speeding away in a red sports car.
There were no security cameras at the time and they left no fingerprints.
As a result, there were no arrests and the case went cold until 2017 the painting was recovered after Rita’s death.
It was eventually returned to the museum in Tucson.
The second theft saw two Taos Society of Artist paintings – by Higgins andSharp – being taken from the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico, in March 1985, the Taos News reports.
While a woman in a wheelchair distracted the museum’s attendant by asking questions about the elevator, a man in a long black coat went upstairs to the paintings.
Former curators David Witt told the outlet: ‘Then he’s up there with a room full of paintings and can make as much noise as he wants – but he works fast.
‘By the time he’s done with his commotion up there, [the attendant] is back at the circulation desk – in time to hear Jerry run down the stairway.’
No physical evidence was left at the scene, the police said at the time.
The three works were reportedly donated to a local charity in Silver City following Jerry’s death in 2012 after their nephew helped to clear their home.
Eagle-eyed customers spotted the de Kooning, while works stolen from Taos were sold at an auction in Arizona, according to the Guardian.
However, now Taos’s Harwood Museum wants the works returned and it asked FBI to track them down.
Juniper Leherissey, executive director at Harwood’s, told the Taos News: ‘I don’t know if they’ve since been sold from that buyer, but likely someone purchased and has been living with them for many years.
‘Hopefully, they’ll recognize that they belong to the Harwood and give them back.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.