In August 2017 an unsuspecting antique dealer came across a painting in the home of a deceased New Mexico couple. Amazingly, the artwork turned out to be worth millions of dollars but that would only be the start of the awe-inspiring mystery…
Early Begininings
Jerry and Rita Alter first arrived in the small town of Cliff, NM in the late 1970s. Reportedly, Jerry had been employed as a school teacher in New York City before moving west where he planned to enjoy his later years of retirement. The self-published author also had a passion for adventure, art, travel and literature.
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A Pair of Travellers/post_page_title]
According to the details found in the biographical profile in one of his authored books, Jerry was an avid traveler. He had visited over 140 countries and had set foot on all seven continents by the time he reached the age of 80. But the traveler was widely described as quiet and mild-mannered by those who knew him. No one could have suspected the man was hiding an unlikely secret identity.
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[post_page_title]Pleasant Rita
His beloved and devoted wife, Rita, also had a background in education. She had found work in the local schooling system as a speech pathologist after the couple later relocated to New Mexico. The Alters were quiet and liked by their neighbors. The couple went on to have a relatively ordinary retirement – or so it was thought.
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A Mysterious Secret
With their two grown children, Barbara and Joseph, having left long home, the Alter parents prepared to settle into much-deserved retirement in Cliff. According to those who knew the Atlers, the pair were a pleasant but notoriously private husband and wife. To the astonishment of all who knew them, it was soon discovered that Jerry and Rita were hiding a million dollar secret within their home.
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A Sad Passing
In 2012, Jerry peacefully passed due to natural causes at the age of 81. Five years later, Rita would follow her beloved husband. The elderly couple’s nephew, Ron Roseman, was left to take care of the couple’s many assets and estate. Roseman soon put the Alter’s Cliff home up for sale and invited local antiques dealers and residents to have a look at the home’s various contents.
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The Peculiar Painting
David Van Auker, a dealer from the nearby small town of Silver City, wandered through the Alters’ home and soon found himself standing before one particularly eye-catching artwork. The mid-20th century painting featuring an abstract interpretation of a nude woman hung in Jerry and Rita’s bedroom. Auker noted the position as a strange place for such an interesting piece to be kept from view.
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The Discovery
After deliberation, Van Auker paid $2,000 for the estate’s assets, including the mysterious painting. When the dealer took the abstract piece back to Silver City, he was in for a tremendous discovery. The small town is home to a large population of local and celebrated American artists; some of whom soon found their way into Van Auker’s antiques store.
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Was it Real?
After one curious visitor spotted the Atlers’ painting on display in the store, he remarked that he believed it to be an authentic piece by the famed Dutch artist, Willem de Kooning. The abstract expressionist painter from the Netherlands was world famous. To the antique dealer’s shock, it was discovered that and original Kooning could fetch millions upon dollars.
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The Search for the Truth
Van Auker was initially quick to dismiss the seemingly outrageous claims regarding the painting’s authenticity. But when customers repeatedly made the same remark about the work, the dealer was compelled to look into the painting’s backstory. The dealer soon took to the internet to discover more about the piece and its origins, what he soon discovered left him in awe.
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The Unknown Couple
During his many hours of in-depth research, Van Auker came upon an article detailing a burglary that had taken place at the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson, AZ, in 1985. In the morning hours of November 29, an unidentified couple arrived at the museum just as the local security guard was unlocking the entrance to admit a known member of staff to enter the building.
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A Quick Distraction
Since the museum was about to be opened for daily admission, the guard did not stop the mysterious couple from entering the premises. In fact, the unknowing guard struck up a conversation with the old woman, thought to be around 60 years old. While the guard was distracted by conversing with the woman, her accomplice, who appeared to be in his twenties, inconspicuously made his way up to the museum’s second floor.
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The Steal
After just mere minutes, the man reappeared and he and the woman made a suspiciously quick exit. Alerted by the couple’s odd departure, the guard went to investigate the second floor of the building. Surprisingly, it appears the guard was the only security personal on the premises at the time of the incident.
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It Had Vanished
He soon discovered that an incredibly valuable painting – Woman-Ochre by de Kooning – had been carefully lifted from its frame. With the painting’s disappearance and the unknown identities of the two thieves, a mystery would soon unfold that would stump the local police for the next three decades. For 32 long years the bizarre theft of the famed artwork would remain unsolved.
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The Investigation Continues
Fast forward to August of 2017, Van Auker soon had the realization that the stolen Kooning and his newly-acquired painting could be the very same artwork. The dealer soon telephoned the Tucson museum and they anxiously agreed to conduct an investigation to discover whether the piece was indeed the original. An unbelieving Van Auker lay awake that night, protecting the artwork with a loaded gun laid across his chest.
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Verifying the Painting
The curator of the museum and several other art experts made their way to Silver City. The disbelieving professionals conducted a series of elaborate tests in order to verify the painting. Kooning’s scrawled signature was analysed by a handwriting expert while chemicals were applied to the work’s canvas in order to gauge the age of the painting.
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The Unbelievable Truth
Incredibly, the experts were able to make the confirmation – the missing painting had been recovered. To the shock of the authorities, the elderly Alters had acquired the stolen artwork which hung on their own bedroom wall for decades. By the time the painting’s authenticity was verified, it was valued at a staggering $160 million. But how had the Atlers come to possess the million dollar artwork?
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Not What it Seemed
Over the course of the subsequent months, details soon surfaced which suggested that the Atlers were not quite as innocent and mild-mannered as they appeared to be. The couple had enjoyed an incongruously lavish lifestyle of world travel and leisure, despite supposedly earning the income of teachers. When the couple eventually passed, family members and friends were awestruck to discover that the elderly pair also had over a million dollars in their savings account.
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Thieves in Disguise
Their nephew, Roseman, had previously believed that his aunt and uncle had made some good investments and were careful with their money. But the Atlers’ wealth wasn’t the only suspicious thing about the deceased husband and wife. In August 2018, a photograph came to light that confirmed Jerry and Rita were in Tucson for Thanksgiving in 1985, just one day before the mysterious robbery took place.
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The Mystery Unfolds
Curious journalists from The New York Times soon discovered that the couple had possessed a red sports car similar to the one reportedly spotted fleeing from the scene of the crime all those years ago. It was also found that both of the Alters’ usually detailed diaries were found suspiciously empty regarding their Thanksgiving plans on the fated year of the crime.
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Was it Them?
Many believe that a police sketch bears a considerable resemblance to the Atlers at the time of the incident. Yet some have suggested that the male accomplice– thought to have been much younger than Jerry was at the time – could have been the couple’s son Joseph, with a disguised Jerry taking on the role of the female criminal.
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Psychologically Disturbed
Another disturbing detail would be discovered regarding the couple’s suspicious son, Joseph. Neighbors and locals who knew the Atlers said their son, who would have been 23 at the time of the theft, suffered disturbing psychological problems and had spent most of his adult years in and out of mental institutions.
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Art Imitating Life
Another seemingly damning clue came in the form of one of Jerry’s published short stories. The plot outlined the dark tale of a young woman and her granddaughter befriending an unsuspecting security guard – only to to steal a valuable emerald jewel from under the man’s nose. The short story concludes with the jewel being displayed where only the thieves could see it. The supposed piece of ‘fiction’ strangely mirrored the tale of Jerry and Rita’s suspected heist: they hung the stolen Kooning in their bedroom, for only them to behold.
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Ongoing Investigation
Despite the mounting circumstantial and hard evidence, it still has yet to be confirmed whether the couple were indeed responsible for the theft. “It’s an ongoing FBI investigation; the case is still open,” Gina Compitello-Moore, the museum’s marketing manager, told artnet News. She declined to comment further or speculate over the Atlers’ suggested involvement in the heist.
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Possibly Innocent
“I can’t believe Rita would be involved in anything like that,” Mark Shay, one of Rita’s former coworkers, told The Post. Those who had known the elderly couple have had difficulty believing the pair could have been involved in such a daring plot. Another more innocent explanation was put forward; perhaps the Atlers had purchased the painting completely unaware of its criminal history.
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Still a Mystery
The painting is now safely being housed in the University of Arizona Museum of Art. Though a year has passed since the stolen painting was recovered, the institution is still in the process of raising funds to restore it to its former glory after years of neglect. There have been no arrests in relation to the mysterious crime surrounding the $160 million artwork. All those who knew the Atlers remain awed by the unlikely suggestion that the couple were indeed at the head of one of the art world’s most daring unsolved crimes.
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