As far as anyone around them knew, Jerry and Rita Alter were ‘harmless eccentrics.’ While the couple was well-traveled - Rita worked as a speech pathologist and Jerry spent his time as a jazz musician, an artist of sorts, an unpublished author, and a retired schoolteacher.
But the couple had one other favorite activity: stealing art. And apparently? They were REALLY good at it. How good? No one had any idea until after they died. An antiques merchant recognized a William de Kooning artwork hanging in the couple’s bedroom . . . as one that had been stolen from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in 1985. On its own, the painting - known as “Woman-Ochre" - is worth $150-million.
The house was found to have other valuable works of art, though nothing as impressive as the de Kooning work, and the thieving couple’s story is being told in a new documentary, “The Thief Collector.” You can't watch it anywhere yet, however . . . the makers are looking for a distribution platform.
Source: New York Post