This holiday season, the thieves from “Home Alone,” Harry Lyme and Marv Murchins, may look a little familiar. After all, this past fall, one particular heist captured the public’s eyes.
On October 19, the Louvre was robbed. Several French crown jewels were stolen, including tiaras, broaches and necklaces dating back to the early 1800s.
The thieves were dressed as construction workers and snuck up to the Balcon De Charles IX (a balcony window leading to the Apollo Gallery) by a furniture lift. They used a disc cutter to open the windows, and then smashed display cases and threatened guards using their “construction” tools. Oddly, they escaped on scooters. The robbery only took six to eight minutes.
By October 31, four suspects were already arrested. The first two are both men in their 30s, and were caught just before the one of them planned to travel to Algeria and the other to Mali. The other two, a man and woman in their mid-30s, were arrested on a later date.
Because this is a high profile and developing case, authorities haven’t released much information about the suspects, but the public has ran wild with rumors.
On TikTok, mugshot photos of fake criminals circulated the internet. Faked mugshots of “Gossip Girl” actor Chace Crawford and Florida choreographer Stefan Dolbashian have gone viral, romanticizing fictional robbers.
Many people fell for these mugshots and they gained a following for being attractive. These fake Louvre robbers could be compared to Luigi Mangione, the accused assassin of Brian Thompson, the former CEO of UnitedHealthcare. In both instances the suspected criminals gained cult-like followings because of their looks–despite their crimes.
Photos of a fake detective on scene also spread online. Despite his traditional detective wear–a cap, academic coat, and vest–the photo was fake. It was just a picture of a fashionable French teenager near the Louvre.
With the public scrambling to find details on the case and even fictionalizing some of its aspects, the story’s real new developments can be confusing and chaotic when mixed with pop culture.
One reason the public may be so enthralled with this case is through the media produced around heists and robberies. Movies like the “Oceans” franchise or “Inception” circulate around heists, while most superhero or crime-solving movies also feature a bank robbery. There are thousands of books about solving mysteries, like robberies, and many popular rap songs about thievery, like The Notorious B.I.G’s “Gimme the Loot.”
The holiday season alone, which is supposed to promote themes of generosity, contrarily have depicted infamous buglers. The iconic movie, “Home Alone” follows a boy protecting his house from two robbers with funny and clever booby traps. The Grinch’s whole motive is to “steal Christmas” by taking people’s presents. There are even Christmas heist movies, like “Holiday Heist,” “Jingle Bell Heist” and “Christmas Break In.”
As the holidays go on, developments still continue on the Louvre case.
While police are still investigating who else may be associated with the crime and trials have been postponed to April 2026, the Louvre staff has worked to update security.
After being under fire for supposedly setting a video surveillance password to be “Louvre,” security staffers have set up more cameras throughout the museum and implemented new programs.
Along with adding around 100 cameras, Louvre security is continuing to implement a $933 million infrastructure and security improvement plan that was established earlier this year, ironically before the robbery.
