On the morning of Sunday, October 19th, four thieves hit the Louvre Museum in Paris, stealing eight of France’s most important crown jewels (worth over $100 million) in under eight minutes. The heist unfolded like a movie plot and, much like a blockbuster movie, has captured worldwide attention due to the iconic status of the Louvre, the jewel’s glamorous history, and the audacity of the crime.  

At approximately 9:30 am, the thieves, posing as construction workers, drove up to the Louvre in a stolen truck. They parked alongside the building and blocked off the area with orange cones. Two of the thieves then hopped into the truck’s lift and rode it up to a second-floor balcony just outside the exquisite, heavily gilded Apollo Gallery. The Apollo Galley served as the model for the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles and has housed the museum’s collection of French crown jewels since 1887. Using a special saw, called a disc cutter, they cut through a window and climbed into the gallery. Once inside, they used specialized tools to cut through glass cases, grabbed eight of the most important pieces in the collection, and, four minutes later, rode the lift back down to the street and escaped on the backs of waiting motorbikes.

But even this “movie-perfect” plan had a few holes in the plot. First, they dropped one of the most valuable items as they fled – the crown of Empress Eugenie, which is covered in 2,480 diamonds and 56 emeralds. More importantly, the thieves tried and failed to burn the stolen truck as they left the scene. This critical error allowed police to identify the suspects through DNA evidence, as all four thieves had prior criminal arrests. As of November 25th, all four of the suspects are in custody, and four additional people have been arrested as possible co-conspirators. The suspects face charges of “theft by an organized gang” and “criminal conspiracy,” and, if sentenced, could be in jail for up to 15 years.

Sadly, these arrests have not led to the recovery of the stolen jewels. Experts say it is likely they have been melted down or dismantled to be sold off in pieces. Among the stolen items were the diamond and pearl tiara of Empress Eugenie; a decorative diamond bow made up of over 2,800 diamonds; a sapphire and diamond tiara, necklace, and earring set (only one of the earrings was stolen); and an emerald and diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon to his second wife, Marie Louise, featuring 32 emeralds and 1,138 diamonds.  

The theft exposed significant security failures at the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum. No external cameras were surveilling the balcony from which the thieves entered the Apollo Gallery, and the police were not first called by the Louvre’s security system but by a phone call from a bicyclist who saw helmeted men descending in a lift from the balcony. The case also highlighted the value and reach of DNA evidence. A team of over 100 investigators gathered 189 items of evidence and analyzed approximately 150 forensic samples. 

Many questions remain in this riveting true-life crime. Stay tuned for the sequel, in which we will, hopefully, learn the fate of the stolen items, the criminals’ motivations, whether they are part of or acting on behalf of a larger crime syndicate, and whether they had inside knowledge of the Louvre.