He died in 2024. The statute of limitations on any role he might have played had long since expired. He was never charged with any crime related to the Gardner theft.
Geoffrey Kelly’s book, published in 2026, offers the most detailed public account of how investigators assessed Abath’s role. Kelly has suggested, as his personal assessment rather than an established fact, that Abath may have given the Manet to the thieves—that the first-floor trip to the Blue Room reflected inside knowledge about what was there. This is an investigative hypothesis, not a proven conclusion. Abath’s attorney and family have rejected any implication of guilt.
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## The Motion Sensor Log and the Surveillance Problem
The loss of the surveillance videotapes was one of the investigation’s most significant early setbacks. The thieves, before leaving, had collected the video cassettes from the museum’s recording system. Whatever the cameras had captured on the night of March 18 was gone.
The FBI later released footage from a different night—surveillance from a period before the theft—that showed a man approaching the museum’s side entrance. The decision to release this footage was controversial within the investigation. Some investigators argued that releasing footage from a different night without clearly establishing its date and context would create confusion about what had actually been documented. Their concerns proved warranted. The footage generated years of speculation about a “mystery visitor” who had nothing to do with the theft.
The incident illustrates a challenge that runs throughout the Gardner investigation: the gap between the physical record that exists and the physical record investigators needed. The motion sensor log was invaluable, telling investigators exactly where the thieves went. But it did not show faces. It did not record conversations. It did not document what the thieves carried with them or what car they drove away in.