By Jackie Ayala, Staff Writer
Je n’en reviens pas! It seems after nearly a month after the Louvre’s robbery, investigators have a few leads on who stole nine crown jewels from the Louvre’s collection. On October 19th, 2025, Paris’s most famous museum witnessed an art heist which took an estimated total of seven minutes to conduct. And as of the start of November, the missing jewels have not been found. With just a disc-cutter and construction uniforms, four unknown thieves managed to steal nine crown jewels from the Galerie d’Apollon wing of the Louvre museum early Sunday morning. At first it seemed impossible for investigators to figure out who was responsible for stealing such valuable historic items from a museum. But in a matter of a few weeks, it was found out the culprits were messy with leaving behind evidence. So the question is … who did it?
Investigation of the robbery began immediately after the Louvre shut down as a result, with around 100 investigators being involved in the case. What they found was over 150 pieces of evidence which included fingerprints and DNA on the items the robbers left behind, including a helmet from their construction worker disguises; and even the smallest strand of hair can lead to the suspects. French magazine Le Parisien reports the police recovering power tools, a blowtorch, gasoline, gloves, a walkie-talkie, a blanket and one of the stolen jewels at the scene of the crime. The DNA found on the items managed to lead the police to four suspects, two of which were arrested on October 25.
While their names have remained unknown, what we do know is where they were headed when they were arrested. One of the suspects was trying to flee France at the Charles de Gaulle Airport and was caught while boarding a plane set to go to Algeria with a one-way ticket. He is believed to be one of the thieves who entered the Galerie d’Apollon using the disc cutters to cut through the glass display cases to steal the jewels. The second suspect was arrested in Aubervilles; Paris prosecutor Laure Beccau tells the press, “No evidence to suggest that he was about to leave the country.” Both of the suspects arrested were said to be known by the police from past burglary cases and which they partially admitted to being involved in the heist. They were charged with vols en bande organisée (organised gang theft) and association de malfaiteurs (criminal conspiracy).
By October 30, five more people were arrested with only one tied to the heist with DNA. A 37-year old man and a 38-year old woman were charged like the first two suspects but deny any involvement from the heist. The three other suspects were released after interrogation and police suspect one other person is still involved and out there.
It was later revealed the first alert to the police wasn’t from the Louvre’s security alarms going off, but rather they had received a call from a cyclist who had seen the men outside, dialling Paris’s emergency line.
The Jewels
The jewels’s locations have stayed missing throughout the investigation. They were added to the Interpol’s Stolen Works of Art Database, a global inventory of 57,000 missing pieces and the largest international police network. While they can’t issue an arrest warrant if a suspect is found, the Interpol can circulate the information of the jewels and suspect using a color coded system.
With the jewels’s location remaining unknown, the public is wondering if the jewels can ever be recovered. Now that they have been confirmed as stolen, they are deemed unsellable as anyone who buys it would be in association with the robbers. The jewels are also not privately insured. Matrical museums are self-insured by the country and premiums for covering French heritage are extremely high. Unfortunately, the Louvre will get no payout for the loss of the jewels.
Experts suspect with the items now being unsellable, the pieces may already be broken down in order to sell individually.
What’s True and What’s False?
People on social media have been keeping tabs on the investigation since it first began; with memes, opinions, and also misinformation as with every case that makes worldwide news. Beccuau has been criticizing the media for the amount of undisclosed information which has been brought out as it has been compromising police investigation. Details on crime investigations are kept secret under France law in order to secure police work and keep the victim’s right of privacy. Laure Beccuau is one of the few people who can release any information about developments to the public. The police are not able to say information about arrests or suspects without approval. But in high profile cases such as the Louvre’ heist, police union officials have leaked details to the public. Amidst the popularity of the heist, several photos have come out claiming to be something it isn’t.
Misinformation has grown since updates have slowed down in the past month. A photo was released of a man dressed as a detective outside the Louvre amidst the investigation. The media went wild at seeing the so-called detective trying to solve the mystery of who stole the crown jewels. Turns out, it’s only 15-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux, a dapper boy who was merely trying to visit the museum the day the heist took place.
Does this man look familiar? Probably because he is actually not one of the Louvre robbers but instead the actor of Nate Archibald in Gossip Girl, Chase Crawford when he was arrested in 2011 for possession of marujana.
Stefan Dolbashian is a professional dancer who came out to say his mugshot was for burglary charges in 2010 which were dropped. Safe to say, neither of them were the Louvre robbers and the public may never see who really stole the crown jewels; names of criminals are usually never made public and mugshots are never released to the public the way they are in the United States. Privacy laws in France are strong to protect victims and suspects as well as to keep the “innocent until proven guilty” motto.
Updates have been slowing down as the investigation gets closer to discovering who stole the crown jewels and with no names coming out, the media seems to have gotten less interested in the story. Maybe a major breakthrough will be revealed soon or maybe we have heard the last of Laure Beccuau’s updates as of right now. To that I say: mieux vaut tard que jamais. Better late than never, right?
