The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist -- 19 Years Later

Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the biggest art heist in history -- an estimated $500 million worth of valuable paintings were stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in a carefully orchestrated and well-planned operation on the day after St. Patrick's Day, 1990.

Dressed as police officers, two men entered the Museum with a "search warrant" and quickly disarmed the sole two guards stationed at the Museum. A total of thirteen paintings and other works of art disappeared that night, some paintings cut from their frames. Their disappearances have intrigued people for years because of the rumored connections to the gang underworld, the unknown status of irreplaceable pieces of art, and the meticulous execution of the heist.

How could the Museum have such little security for such a valuable collection of artwork, many have asked.

The Museum is reluctant to mark the occasion as an 'anniversary' and more as an ongoing effort to recover the stolen paintings. Art detectives and law enforcement alike have followed countless leads over the years and have pinpointed dozens of suspects. However, nobody has ever been arrested for the crime.

Author Ulrich Boser and The Boston Herald have both independently launched their own investigations into the heist.

Boser's conclusions on who committed the crimes are chronicled in his new book "The Gardner Heist". In the video, you will be able to hear some of what he has to say.

Isabella Stewart Gardner was a wealthy Boston socialite and a patron of the arts. In her will, she stated that nothing was ever to be changed in her museum. Today, the empty frames still remain where they were as a reminder to visitors that they are still missing.