Broken Frame and DNA Traces Leading to Arrest in Van Gogh Robbery


Nils M. was not a rookie art thief. But prosecutors say he left DNA evidence on a broken picture frame in one museum and a heavy-duty strap in another, which helped Dutch investigators identify him as the man who stole paintings by van Gogh and Frans Hals in two daring robberies.

A match in their database led them to the 59-year-old defendant. Previously He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2012 for stealing a 17th-century gilded silver monster or church ship from a museum in Gouda.

During this theft, Nils M., who was identified without his full surname due to Dutch privacy laws, used explosives to detonate the museum gate.

In more recent thefts, prosecutors are seeking eight years in prison for what they describe as “exceptional crimes” committed with an as yet unidentified partner. The paintings—van Gogh’s insured value of €2.5 million, or approximately $2.9 million, and Hals’ value of €10 to €15 million, or $11.7 million to $17.6 million, were not recovered.

A panel of three judges is expected to decide the case on Friday.

Speaking in court earlier this month, the case’s prosecutor, Gabriëlle Hoppenbrouwers, said it was “totally unacceptable” to “enter a museum and take pictures of world-renowned artists, irreplaceable works of our cultural heritage”. according to a copy of the indictment.

At the hearing in Lelystad, the accused denied the charges. “He said he didn’t steal these pictures and had nothing to do with it,” his lawyer Renske van Zanden said in an interview.

But central Netherlands district prosecutors said DNA evidence from the picture frame and possibly the strap that was used in the escape points to him.

Van Gogh’s 1884 painting “Parsonage Garden in Nuenen in Spring” was part of a temporary exhibition at the Singer Laren Museum on loan from the Groninger Museum in Groningen.

security camera footage Footage of last year’s robbery showed a man using a sledgehammer to break two glass doors to enter the museum. He went with the picture under his arm.

Prosecutors said the frame of the painting was left behind in pieces in the parking lot. They said some of these fragments contained traces of the suspect’s DNA.

The 17th-century Hals painting “Two Laughing Boys and a Mug of Beer” was stolen from a small museum five months later in August 2020. Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden Museum, in Leerdam. This robbery got special attention because Third time He said the painting was stolen from the same small museum. (It was previously stolen in 2011 and 1988, but was recovered in both.)

The back door had been smashed open and the police orange tension belt It is attached to a flagpole in the garden outside the museum, which prosecutors believe was probably used to land Hals or the thief down a nearby 10-metre wall onto a waiting scooter. A security camera showed the two people driving away on the scooter. The passenger was carrying something square that looked like a small painting.

It was also discovered two weeks before the robbery in Leerdam that there was an extendable ladder submerged near the base of the museum’s garden wall, which prosecutors suspect may have been hidden there by thieves to scale the wall. But a passerby noticed the ladder and moved it, possibly part of their plan, investigators said.

Prosecutors emphasized the power of DNA evidence in each of the scenes. But they said there were other compelling reasons to suggest that the two thefts were committed by the same man. Both thefts occurred shortly after 3 p.m., involved heavy forces to break into museums and involved an accomplice helping the thief escape on a scooter. Investigators were unable to identify an accomplice.

The museum in Leerdam is part of an almshouse for unmarried women, which also displays the 18th-century founder’s collection. It is largely run by volunteers who maintain the Hofje and its garden. Prosecutors said a chewed zucchini plant helped investigators locate where the thief had climbed through the wall into the garden.

Defendant Nil M. arrested in April At his home in Baarn, a small town close to Laren. Prosecutors said a search of his home found more than 10,000 ecstasy pills, along with a firearm and ammunition.

Answering charges in court earlier this month, Nils M., who works in a garage where he repairs cars, said that he sometimes used a belt of the type found in Leerdam when making repairs, which could explain the presence of his DNA on it. Strap. However, her lawyer, Ms van Zanden, said she did not know how the belt got to Leerdam.

“He said he often used belts when buying car parts, for example,” he said in an email. “He also said that the straps are sometimes lagging behind.”

Ms van Zanden argued that the DNA evidence from Laren was insufficient, in part because the picture frame had matches with other people. He said his client was taller than the man shown in the Laren footage, and the way the thief was holding the hammer in the video showed he was left-handed, while his client was right-handed.

The theft of the works of two great Dutch artists in a matter of months has spawned numerous theories as to why the works were stolen. In court, Ms Hoppenbrouwers said prosecutors believed the accused had sold or given away the paintings and were now in the criminal underworld.

The indictment cited several reasons why famous works of art remained popular with thieves despite their inability to easily sell or go public. Investigators believe that such masterpieces may be valid in the underworld, as they can be used to demand ransom from the insurance companies that insured them, and in some cases, they can be used in negotiations to obtain a reduction in prison sentences.

He said the works could also be used as collateral in drug deals.

Arthur Brand, the private art detective who followed both cases, said he believes there is a demand for artworks in the Dutch underworld. People accused of drug offenses said they thought a stolen artwork could potentially be turned over to authorities in exchange for a lesser penalty.



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