18-07-2025
The Familiar Fingerprints of a Forgotten Art Heist
When Lou Schachter visited the University of Arizona Museum of Art in 2014, he appreciated the flowers by Georgia O'Keeffe, the cityscapes from Edward Hopper and the signature splatter of Jackson Pollock.
But he was most intrigued by the empty frame on one of the gallery walls.
A small plaque nearby explained that in 1985, someone had cut Willem de Kooning's 'Woman-Ochre' from the frame and made off with it. No one had seen the painting since.
Schachter, a corporate consultant with a homespun interest in unsolved mysteries, was fascinated by the story of one person distracting security while another took the abstract oil painting of a nude woman. He loved to write and took notes with the intention of digging into the theft someday.
The de Kooning turned up before he got around to it. In 2017, it was discovered hanging behind the bedroom door of Jerome and Rita Alter, retired public schoolteachers who had died. Valued at $400,000 when it was stolen, the painting is now considered worth more than $100 million.
After the painting's long restoration process, Schachter got back in his car and drove hundreds of miles from Palm Springs, Calif., to Tucson, Ariz., to see 'Woman-Ochre' where the empty frame had once been.
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