New evidence revealed this month suggested that a 1990 art museum heist was an inside job, RadarOnline.com has learned. A secret signal sent out to the suspected thieves was also revealed.
Flash back to March 1990, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston fell victim to a daring art heist when two thieves disguised as police officers made off with $500 million worth of artwork – including pieces by renowned artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer.
The heist, which was believed to be the largest of its kind in history, left the museum reeling with nothing more than empty frames that still haunted its walls.
But new investigations this month shined a light on Rick Abath – the night watchman on duty during the 1990 heist. Investigators suspected that Abath may have played a role in the museum caper.
Eric Ulis, an independent investigator, pointed to several pieces of evidence that suggested Abath's involvement in the heist. From violating security protocols to suspicious behavior captured by motion detectors, the case against Abath certainly proved compelling.
"Abath was the last person to step foot in the Blue Room, which tells us he's the only person who could've removed the Chez Tortoni," Ulis claimed this week during an interview with The Sun.
"And I'm speculating here, but I think that was part of the whole deal. I think the thieves told him when we receive the proceeds from selling the Chez Tortoni, we'll pass those proceeds off to Rick,” Ulis continued.
"So much of the evidence points to him being involved."
Abath, who passed away at just 57 in March of this year, vehemently denied any connection to the heist before his death – even despite many lingering suspicions.
The suspect’s checkered past, which was marked by a struggling rock band and a meager income, added fuel to the speculative fire.
Reports of Abath’s reckless behavior and connections with questionable individuals also did little to dispel doubts surrounding the man’s innocence.
“Could someone who had friends who were robbers or in the underworld have heard us complaining how awful the security system was?” Abath said back in 2013. “Absolutely.”
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"We were talking about it in the open all the time,” he continued. “But did I know someone picked it up and used it to rob the place? Absolutely not."
The Gardner heist remains a mystery more than 30 years later and the stolen artworks has yet to be recovered.
Over the years, various additional suspects have emerged – including Brian McDevitt.
McDevitt, an audacious conman and convicted would-be art thief, was previously entangled in a botched art robbery in New York that shared eerie similarities with the Gardner heist.
McDevitt's ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Rabinowitz, also revealed startling details about his alleged confession regarding the Gardner heist.
Dubious alibis and elaborate schemes cast a shadow of suspicion on McDevitt's actions, but his untimely demise in 2004 in South America only raised further questions about the truth behind his alleged involvement.
"It's very reasonable to assume that Rick Abath – who was in a band, and into the local music and drug scene – went to the same venue," Ulis speculated this month.
"I can't state that definitively,” he continued, “but Brian and Rick may have started communicating there in the months before the heist."