A highly valuable heisted abstract painting was recovered by the FBI after a man accidentally sold it off for a mere fraction of its worth.
Ron Roseman, of Houston, Texas, had been clearing out his late aunt and uncle, Rita and Jerry Alter’s home in Cliff, New Mexico, recently when he gathered some of the couple’s leftover collectibles and bargained them off to an antique dealer in the area.
Little to Roseman’s knowledge, one of the collectibles in the stash was a stolen decades-old Willem de Kooning canvas painting, previously deemed the ‘crown jewel’ of the University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA). The painting is valued at $165million.
The naive nephew was informed of the stunning details after he received a call from a federal agent just days after auctioning the artwork and other items off for a meager $2,000.
Pictured: The $165million Willem de Kooning ‘Woman Ochre’ painting. The ‘crown jewel’ was stolen from the University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA) back in 1985 from a mystery man and woman
Ron Roseman, of Houston, Texas, (shown above) had been clearing out his late aunt and uncle, Rita and Jerry Alter’s home in Cliff, New Mexico, when he collected the pricey painting and sold it to an antique shop
Visitors are shown at the University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA), where the painting hung as the most valuable piece before the heist
‘I felt like a deer in headlights,’ Roseman said in an interview with WFAA after he received the shocking phone call.
‘It’s my favorite aunt and uncle,’ he added. ‘You know, I couldn’t imagine … (the) scenarios running through my head and where could they have possibly found this painting.’
The 40-by-30-inch oil canvas, ‘Woman Ochre’, of a nude female subject, was stolen the day after Thanksgiving in 1985 – 27 years after the pricey piece was donated to the Tucson museum.
At the time, cameras had not been set in the exhibition, and a mystery ‘man and woman’ successfully executed the daring heist, according to the newspaper.
Manzanita Ridge Antiques shop in Silver City, New Mexico is shown, where Roseman sold the pricey painting for a small fraction of its worth
University of Arizona Police Chief Bryan Seastone has been investigating the theft case for decades and said he got to ‘see the tears of joy and happiness as it really did come home’
‘The woman distracted the museum security guard at the base of the stairs, while the man walked upstairs and used a blade to cut the painting from its frame.
‘The painting is believed to have been rolled up, and tucked under one of the thieves’ coats, as they hurried out of the building.’
Meg Hagyard, the interim director at UAMA, told WFAA: ‘It was a very traumatic event for the institution and the people that lived through it.’
The thieves pictured in a sketch at the time showed a blonde-haired woman and dark-haired man, who struck an eerie resemblance to the Alter’s
The crooks reportedly sped off after the heist in their ‘rust-colored two-door car’ at the time.
In this Nov. 25, 2015 photo, an empty wooden frame sits next to a composite drawing of two suspects in the heist of a valuable painting stolen 30 years ago from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson
The painting was returned to the museum after several years. Museum interim director, Meg Hagyard, said the 1985 incident was ‘a very traumatic event for the institution and the people that lived through it’
Hagyard said: ‘It was always a concern that the painting had been destroyed and didn’t exist anymore.’
While adding: ‘To have it recovered just a mere few hours from us is an incredible thing. To realize that possibly all of this time it was just a short drive away.’
A customer who had been visiting the New Mexico antique shop where the painting was sold, spotted the distinctive details in the pricey piece of art.
‘James actually kneeled down in front of the painting and was trying to scratch at it,’ co-owner of the antique shop, Buck Burns, revealed.
‘I grabbed him by his wrist, and he said: ‘Do you know what you have here?’,’ when he offered the owner’s an initial $200,000.
Hagyard said: ‘To have it recovered just a mere few hours from us is an incredible thing. To realize that possibly all of this time it was just a short drive away’
Immediately after the discussion, Burns and fellow co-owner, David Van Auker, locked it in a safe place.
‘We were afraid someone would bash it or flick paint off it so that’s when we decided we would pick it up and stick it somewhere safe,’ Van Auker told WFAA.
After the men carefully researched, they stumbled across articles online that pictured the stolen painting.
That’s when they made a phone call to the museum and law enforcement became involved.
University of Arizona Police Chief, Brian Seastone, who investigated the theft case for several years, said: ’32 years later I got to see the tears of joy and happiness as it really did come home.’
Seastone added: ‘If you look at art across the country, the world, that’s been stolen, there’s a couple reasons it gets found.
‘Either somebody dies and someone comes across it, it gets sold, or someone brings some information forward. One of the three happened.’
Now, police and federal officials are investigating the case into closer detail.
Many believe the late Alter’s, two wealthy school teachers who traveled the world during their lifetime, were responsible.
The poached painting hung in a hidden corner of their home for some time, Roseman said.
The couple kept it posted in a private room behind the door, where visitors would not see.
An unusual book written by Jerry back in 2011 titled, ‘The Cup and the Lip,’ accounted the story of two people who robbed a museum of a 120-carat jewel.
‘The guard is distracted … the woman removes bolts, grabs the jewel, and flees in a getaway vehicle with the guard in pursuit,’ the newspaper reported of the book of short stories.
The story was said to closely align with recounted details from the 1985 holiday heist.