What do you think happened to them? I see a few scenarios as to why they have never been found. First, we must note that the thieves must have been big time professionals who knew exactly what to do.

1) They decided not to risk moving them across state lines in case of border patrols, possibly to avoid being captured easily.
2) They sold them to private collectors within the state of Florida, the holders not knowing they are stolen.
3) They were shipped out of the country to be sold.

It has always bothered me that someone who took such pride in their work had it taken from them by greedy bastards. For thefts of valuable work like this, there shouldn't be a statute of limitations (they have already expired for this crime). I can only imagine how Ben Stahl must have felt.

What do you think happened to them? I see a few scenarios as to why they have never been found. First, we must note that the thieves must have been big time professionals who knew exactly what to do.

1) They decided not to risk moving them across state lines in case of border patrols, possibly to avoid being captured easily.
2) They sold them to private collectors within the state of Florida, the holders not knowing they are stolen.
3) They were shipped out of the country to be sold.

It has always bothered me that someone who took such pride in their work had it taken from them by greedy bastards. For thefts of valuable work like this, there shouldn't be a statute of limitations (they have already expired for this crime). I can only imagine how Ben Stahl must have felt.

I've always thought and have expressed on this forum in the past, that these paintings were stolen to order and now are in the hands of a collector, who wants to enjoy them all by themselves.I can imagine it would've been very expensive, but the Stahl family really should have invested far more than they did in security for these paintings. Failing that, they probably should have had them displayed in a museum that had its own security

I wonder if anybody's looking on eBay or any other online auction sites to see if these paintings have been or are being sold? The reason that I say this is because legitimate art dealers would require a provenance before they would accept for consignment or purchase any artwork.

This radio story reminded me of this, which should be moved up for the Christmas season: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/25/132283848/is-this-the-worlds-most-coveted-painting

What do you think happened to them? I see a few scenarios as to why they have never been found. First, we must note that the thieves must have been big time professionals who knew exactly what to do.

1) They decided not to risk moving them across state lines in case of border patrols, possibly to avoid being captured easily.
2) They sold them to private collectors within the state of Florida, the holders not knowing they are stolen.
3) They were shipped out of the country to be sold.

It has always bothered me that someone who took such pride in their work had it taken from them by greedy bastards. For thefts of valuable work like this, there shouldn't be a statute of limitations (they have already expired for this crime). I can only imagine how Ben Stahl must have felt.
I'm guessing at this point they're out of the country and not all in one place. It's really sad. Being an artist myself, this must have took an immense amount of work to create. People really don't know the amount of effort it takes just to make one painting the quality of Ben Stahl's. It's too bad such a tragedy had to have occurred.

I always wonder where are they. Sitting in someones attic? Someone has to know...I wish they would be returned to his children.

People will seriously steal anything not red hot or nailed down. Who in the world would steal religious paintings? Not :devil: worshippers one hopes?

I think that a private collector hired the thieves to steal the paintings and objects and potentially someone involved with the exhibtion (not Stahl) helped facilitate their theft. Two insured paintings that were on loan from another museum were not stolen (unfortunately Stahl had not insured the stolen art).

Just watched this one again.

I'd like to think that, baring being in someone's personal collection somewhere, if these paintings were still in the US at least ONE credible lead would have surfaced. I think they're long gone in another country somewhere.

People will seriously steal anything not red hot or nailed down. Who in the world would steal religious paintings? Not :devil: worshippers one hopes?

The one and only time I've been to the SSI office in town they had the chairs bolted and chained to the floors. I said to the person beside me "these chairs must cost a fortune or something". She said "they are afraid someone will steal them or throw them at the workers". :lol:

I hope I never have to visit that place again :) .

I do think someone paid for these to be stolen and they are hidden somewhere overseas. We recently got a new security system in place here after some things disappeared. Peace of mind is worth alot.

I also don't believe the "alleged Catholic priest" angle presented in the UM segment. I think it was some sort of extortion scam.

You know it's amazing artwork when even me as an atheist was moved by the artwork and it's beauty!! The way the actor who played Ben Stahl portrayed his sadness that they were stolen was on point. I agree that they are out of the country and the theory another poster mentioned that it was an inside job makes sense to me & I agree. It couldve been someone who was from out of the country who visited the location where the paintings were and might have checked the surroundings to see if the coast was clear to steal them. They hired someone to steal them and then they fled the country. I highly doubt we will ever see them again.

As for the catholic priest, why would they lie about it but at the same time if I remember correctly, the priest became fearful and didnt want to go into detail about the incident after that.

As for the catholic priest, why would they lie about it but at the same time if I remember correctly, the priest became fearful and didnt want to go into detail about the incident after that.

The segment says a man claiming to be a Catholic priest called Stahl (or one of his children, I can't recall right now) and said that a man came into the church to essentially relay a message to the Stahl family that if they wanted the paintings back, they needed to pay $1.5 million for them. When police pressed the caller, he wouldn't identify himself and then simply disappeared altogether. I think it was a scam and the guy wasn't a priest.

The segment says a man claiming to be a Catholic priest called Stahl (or one of his children, I can't recall right now) and said that a man came into the church to essentially relay a message to the Stahl family that if they wanted the paintings back, they needed to pay $1.5 million for them. When police pressed the caller, he wouldn't identify himself and then simply disappeared altogether. I think it was a scam and the guy wasn't a priest.

Sounds like HE was trying to get money out of it not the "thieves"

Sounds like HE was trying to get money out of it not the "thieves"

That's exactly what I think happened.

The work of an organized crime syndicate. It was far too well-executed for it to have been some thieves from the street.

Reminds me of the largest art heist in history. Boston 1990 - 50 million dollars worth stolen.

Organized crime units specialize in these very well planned heists.

Hmm.. never thought about organized crime..

I think that a private collector hired the thieves to steal the paintings and objects and potentially someone involved with the exhibtion (not Stahl) helped facilitate their theft. Two insured paintings that were on loan from another museum were not stolen (unfortunately Stahl had not insured the stolen art).

The lack of insurance eliminates any possible motive on the Stahl family's part.

I catch the program Strange Inheritance when possible. Several families with unusual collections have looked into opening museums but the cost of starting and maintaining one proved prohibitive.

I typically don't find the non-crime related UM stories as compelling as the crime segments - but one of the exceptions was the segment focusing on the 1969 Ben Stahl painting thefts.

I'm not at all surprised that the paintings were stolen, given that they were extremely well-done & invaluable - and that Stahl didn't have any kind of alarm system or any other anti-theft devices in the room where the paintings were held.

What I do find somewhat puzzling (but not that puzzling) is that there has been no trace of them in the 50+ years since the theft. I think that the alleged priest that called with news about these was a scam and/or red herring.

More likely than not, these are with a private collector somewhere stored far away from prying eyes - who may have passed these on to other family members (if the original collector passed since they got the paintings back in 1969). For some reason, I suspect these were initially taken out of the U.S. and never made their way back here; I have no basis for thinking this, other than that I think anyone stealing these would want to take them as far away as possible - to limit the possibility that they could/would be tracked down.

I typically don't find the non-crime related UM stories as compelling as the crime segments - but one of the exceptions was the segment focusing on the 1969 Ben Stahl painting thefts.

I'm not at all surprised that the paintings were stolen, given that they were extremely well-done & invaluable - and that Stahl didn't have any kind of alarm system or any other anti-theft devices in the room where the paintings were held.

What I do find somewhat puzzling (but not that puzzling) is that there has been no trace of them in the 50+ years since the theft. I think that the alleged priest that called with news about these was a scam and/or red herring.

More likely than not, these are with a private collector somewhere stored far away from prying eyes - who may have passed these on to other family members (if the original collector passed since they got the paintings back in 1969). For some reason, I suspect these were initially taken out of the U.S. and never made their way back here; I have no basis for thinking this, other than that I think anyone stealing these would want to take them as far away as possible - to limit the possibility that they could/would be tracked down.

This whole idea that he was so trusting of people is beyond frustrating. Why was it so offensive for him to just install an alarm system. Thieves look for and case places like this all the time. This was bound to happen sooner or later.

As to what happened to the paintings, this was 1969 and they could have been sold to just about anyone who likely wouldn’t know they were stolen. It makes more sense they were taken out of the country, but honestly I can see these paintings simply ending up somewhere in the country for a while and are now just in storage.

This whole idea that he was so trusting of people is beyond frustrating. Why was it so offensive for him to just install an alarm system. Thieves look for and case places like this all the time. This was bound to happen sooner or later.

As to what happened to the paintings, this was 1969 and they could have been sold to just about anyone who likely wouldn’t know they were stolen. It makes more sense they were taken out of the country, but honestly I can see these paintings simply ending up somewhere in the country for a while and are now just in storage.

Or hanging on walls in several different homes of people who have no idea what they are or where they came from.

Or hanging on walls in several different homes of people who have no idea what they are or where they came from.

They could even be on display in various churches. Many churches like to have paintings like that up for decorative purposes, rarely does anyone ask where they came from. Ben Stahl's paintings would not look out of place at all in a congregation or house of worship. I'd say the most anyone would think of them was that they were unusually beautiful and moving displays and likely wouldn't question their origins. It would probably take an eagle eyed churchgoer and Unsolved Mysteries junkie to spot them, I go to church and if I saw one of them I'm not even sure I'd notice it without actually looking for it, I'd probably have to go home and re-watch the episode and compare them with a picture I took of it on my cellphone.

In fact if I had to take a bet I'd say that's where they ended up, because they would be attractive to churches and the thieves probably knew that and sold them to houses of worship. If that's the case, it might be some consolation to Ben Stahl that his paintings were at least being enjoyed by people of faith seeing them in their church.