Roland Breitwieser abandons the family home, taking all of his antiques and artwork with him, leaving his son bereft.

Breitwieser works briefly as a museum security guard and steals an ancient belt buckle from the collection when he quits.

Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine steal an 18th-century flintlock pistol from an unlocked display case at a rural Alsace museum.

Breitwieser's mother buys a house in Mulhouse after her divorce settlement, and the couple moves into the locked attic.

Breitwieser steals the portrait Sibylle of Cleves from a German estate auction, hiding it in his auction catalog.

Breitwieser steals the ivory sculpture Adam and Eve from the Rubens House in Belgium while Anne-Catherine acts as lookout.

Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine make three separate visits to the Belgian Art and History Museum, stealing eleven silver items in total.

Breitwieser steals a painting from a gallery directly opposite a police station in Lucerne, and both he and Anne-Catherine are arrested.

Breitwieser discovers a bill for Anne-Catherine's secret abortion and drives to her workplace to assault her.

With Anne-Catherine refusing to participate further, Breitwieser steals increasingly large items from Swiss churches and museums alone.

Breitwieser is arrested outside the Richard Wagner Museum after an employee recognizes his coat from the day of the bugle theft.

Police arrive at Breitwieser's home with a search warrant; when they reach the attic, they find only a four-poster bed.

Inspector Meier produces photographs of 107 stolen items recovered from a canal, and Breitwieser confesses to stealing them all.

Mireille Stengel confesses to throwing her son's stolen artworks into a canal and burning paintings in a forest.

Breitwieser visits the Rubens House to view Adam and Eve on display, then steals a booklet featuring the sculpture from the gift shop.

From his father's departure to his first theft and the secret filling of a clandestine attic museum, this pool charts the main arc of Breitwieser's criminal career. The thefts escalate from a single pistol to hundreds of stolen artworks worth billions, including the iconic Adam and Eve sculpture taken from the Rubens House. A reckless heist at a gallery opposite a police station leads to Breitwieser's first arrest and the permanent fracturing of his relationship with Anne-Catherine. Years later, a seemingly minor theft triggers his final arrest, and police discover the attic has been completely emptied. The subsequent confessions and Mireille Stengel's shocking admission that she destroyed the artworks expose the full catastrophe of a decade of crime. The story ends where it began—at the Rubens House—where Breitwieser, incapable of change, steals a booklet on his way out.

The headline crimes and consequences of a prolific art thief.

As a child, Breitwieser accidentally breaks a fragment of lead from a Roman coffin and secretly hides it in his pocket.

Breitwieser and his grandfather search medieval ruins together on expeditions, digging for pottery shards and arrowheads.

Breitwieser steals a crossbow from a castle museum by standing on a chair, forcing a window, and retrieving it from outside.

During a family skiing trip to Switzerland, Breitwieser steals an 18th-century painting by Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich from Gruyères Castle.

Breitwieser steals a valuable apothecary painting from the University of Basel museum, carefully keeping his back to a security camera.

Breitwieser patiently removes 30 screws from a display case at the Alexis Forel Museum in Switzerland to steal a silver serving platter.

Swiss police inspector Von der Mühll studies footage from a hidden camera at the Alexis Forel Museum and begins linking multiple art thefts.

Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine initially agree not to steal at the Royal Chateau of Blois, then seize an opportunity and take Madeleine de France.

Breitwieser begins discarding empty stolen frames in unexpected public locations as a calling card, drawing attention to his crimes.

Breitwieser stuffs a ten-foot tapestry into a duffel bag and throws it out of a window at Gruyères Castle to retrieve it.

Breitwieser uses a wrench to unbolt and drag a four-foot-tall Virgin Mary statue out of an Alsace church.

The press uncovers the art theft story, and Breitwieser watches reports from his jail cell estimating the stolen collection at $2 billion.

Breitwieser accepts a publisher's advance for a memoir but steals clothing from a designer boutique on the way to meet his publisher.

Breitwieser steals a 17th-century Pieter Brueghel the Younger painting valued at roughly $50 million from a Belgian antiques fair.

Breitwieser begins stealing museum items to sell on internet auction sites and is arrested after police receive a tip-off.

This pool reveals the origins of Breitwieser's obsession in childhood expeditions with his grandfather and traces the bold, inventive thefts that made him one of history's most prolific art criminals. From stealing a crossbow at a castle to removing 30 screws from a museum case and snatching a centuries-old tapestry, each heist demonstrates his escalating audacity and disregard for risk. Meanwhile, Swiss police inspector Von der Mühll quietly studies hidden camera footage, connecting a string of thefts to the same unknown perpetrator. The public revelation of Breitwieser's crimes and his desperate attempts to rebuild his life—including a memoir deal abandoned the moment he reaches a boutique—show a man constitutionally unable to stop stealing. His final theft of an extraordinary painting at a Belgian fair and a subsequent online selling spree confirm that the compulsion will outlast every consequence he faces.

The heists, investigations, and aftermath that shaped the wider story.

Breitwieser is sent to a behavioral therapy clinic after being arrested twice for aggressive confrontations with police officers over parking tickets.

Breitwieser meets Anne-Catherine at a party; despite their different backgrounds, they fall in love and begin living together.

Anne-Catherine hands Breitwieser her nail clippers to open a display case after he declared he would not steal anything on a museum visit.

Breitwieser approaches framer Christian Meichler under a false identity, beginning a friendship built on their shared passion for Renaissance art.

After discovering one of his paintings displayed in Meichler's shop window, Breitwieser stops bringing artworks and provides only their dimensions for framing.

Breitwieser shatters a display case glass while stealing a bronze hunting knife, flees leaving blood behind, then returns to take the knife.

Anne-Catherine tells a guard she has lost an earring, gaining re-entry to the Belgian Art and History Museum to retrieve a forgotten chalice lid.

After four months apart, Anne-Catherine agrees to return to Breitwieser on the strict condition she will never participate in his thefts again.

Swiss detective Von der Mühll builds a rapport with Breitwieser over their shared love of art and extracts a detailed full confession.

Swiss psychologist Michel Schmidt concludes Breitwieser is a narcissist with no empathy or remorse who is fundamentally incapable of change.

Overcome with depression in prison, Breitwieser fashions a noose from dental floss; a guard intervenes before he can use it.

At the Swiss trial, the prosecution reads an intercepted prison letter in which Breitwieser expresses his continuing desire to steal more art.

During a pretrial meeting where Anne-Catherine cannot legally speak to him, Breitwieser hastily revises his account to match her denial of involvement.

Anne-Catherine shocks Breitwieser at the French trial by revealing she has a nineteen-month-old son fathered by another man.

Stéphanie Mangin throws Breitwieser out of her home and reports him to police after discovering a stolen painting hanging on her wall.

This pool explores the moments that shaped Breitwieser's psychology and redirected his criminal path, beginning with an early arrest that sent him to a behavioral therapy clinic and the pivotal meeting with Anne-Catherine. Subtle escalations—from accepting nail clippers to steal a drawing, to shattering a display case and calmly returning to the scene—reveal how his confidence continuously outpaced his caution. Key revelations expose the human cost of his obsession: a psychologist's damning assessment, Anne-Catherine's carefully negotiated terms for staying, and a forged story improvised in a pretrial meeting. Breitwieser's darkest moment—fashioning a noose from dental floss—gives way to a trial where Anne-Catherine's bombshell revelation about a new child ends any lingering hope of reconciliation. Even after prison, the pattern repeats, as his new girlfriend ultimately makes the same choice Anne-Catherine did: to report him to the police.