Stolen Photos of Riefenstahl Discovered in Cologne
The Cologne (Germany) police has seized stolen photos of Leni Riefenstahl and other photographers to the value of up to four million euros. Three suspects were arrested, the police is still searching for a fourth one. The photographs had been stolen at the beginning of November in the cellar of the Photo Estate GmbH in the centre of Cologne at the Theodor-Heuss-Ring. As the police informed, they discovered the photos already shortly after the theft in a hiding place disguised with bulky refuse in a cellar shed not far from the site of crime.
From “procedural reasons“ the finding has been kept secret. 250 photographs by Leni Riefenstahl had been stolen and 300 images of the US photographer Elliott Erwitt as well as artworks of Peter Lindbergh and Helmut Newton. Because the photos had been stored in an unclear cellar tract without any indication to the values concealed there, the police supposed that the burglars had good local knowledge. „Also a wall breakthrough was suspicious - the hole in a wall was constructed so accurately that a person was not discovered by the motion detectors of the alarm-saved room.“ However, in the end, an iron door obstructed the way to the thieves, so that they could not take away their prey, but had to hide the photo suitcases. This hiding place found the police by a search of the cellar.
Suspicious nervousness of the janitor's assistant
A 42 year-old assistant of the janitor excited with wider observation of the cellar the suspicion of the investigators because he showed „a clear reaction“ when he noted that the shed was empty. The 46-year-old janitor himself had been dismissed after a quarrel around money by the archiving company for photo art, so he belonged to the suspects likewise in the eyes of the police. „Already in 1981 he had murdered his boss in Cologne at that time to get his safe deposit inserts”, informed the police. In addition there was a third suspect at the age of 52 years. In the living rooms and offices of the culprits the police found evidence - several photo books from the archive - as well as slats and screws, as they had been used to construct the shed. Three suspects deny the crime. The police still searches for the fourth man who had tried to cash a cheque in a bank stolen in case of the burglary.
From “procedural reasons“ the finding has been kept secret. 250 photographs by Leni Riefenstahl had been stolen and 300 images of the US photographer Elliott Erwitt as well as artworks of Peter Lindbergh and Helmut Newton. Because the photos had been stored in an unclear cellar tract without any indication to the values concealed there, the police supposed that the burglars had good local knowledge. „Also a wall breakthrough was suspicious - the hole in a wall was constructed so accurately that a person was not discovered by the motion detectors of the alarm-saved room.“ However, in the end, an iron door obstructed the way to the thieves, so that they could not take away their prey, but had to hide the photo suitcases. This hiding place found the police by a search of the cellar.
Suspicious nervousness of the janitor's assistant
A 42 year-old assistant of the janitor excited with wider observation of the cellar the suspicion of the investigators because he showed „a clear reaction“ when he noted that the shed was empty. The 46-year-old janitor himself had been dismissed after a quarrel around money by the archiving company for photo art, so he belonged to the suspects likewise in the eyes of the police. „Already in 1981 he had murdered his boss in Cologne at that time to get his safe deposit inserts”, informed the police. In addition there was a third suspect at the age of 52 years. In the living rooms and offices of the culprits the police found evidence - several photo books from the archive - as well as slats and screws, as they had been used to construct the shed. Three suspects deny the crime. The police still searches for the fourth man who had tried to cash a cheque in a bank stolen in case of the burglary.
posted by Photography Collection at
2:08 AM
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