Night watchman during notorious 1990 Gardner heist has died

The former security guard who allowed two thieves into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 34 years ago has died. Throughout his life, Richard "Rick" Abath maintained he was not involved in what became one of the most notorious and expensive art heists in history.

On March 18, 1990, Abath — then a 23-year-old musician who loved the Grateful Dead — opened the doors to a duo claiming to be police officers. Once inside, they bound Abath and another watchman with duct tape, then quickly maneuvered through the museum, cherry-picking what's estimated to be a stash worth well more than $500 million.

In the end, the robbers escaped with 13 artworks, including paintings by Rembrandt and Manet that they slashed from their frames. The rarest piece in that stolen trove is "The Concert" by the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. Today, the paintings' ornate, empty frames still hang on the walls of the Dutch Room as stark reminders of their unsolved disappearance.

In  a statement, the Gardner Museum extended its condolences to Abath's family and friends. "We are very sorry to learn of Richard Abath’s passing. Out of respect for his family we have no further comment at this time."

Regarding the theft, the Gardner wrote, "This is still an active and ongoing investigation, and we have no further comment."

The museum continues to offer a $10 million reward for any information that could lead to the artworks' return.

Abath, who was 57, always claimed he was not complicit in the heist. But suspicions surrounding his involvement have swirled through the minds of federal investigators, journalists and documentarians for decades.

Former Boston Globe reporter and editor Stephen Kurkjian covered the Gardner theft for years and wrote the book "Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist." As consulting producer of the WBUR/Boston Globe true crime podcast, "Last Seen," Kurkjian wrote that while Abath always cooperated with authorities, "suspicions around Abath’s possible involvement in the robbery arose again when investigators discovered the museum’s motion detector equipment had not picked up the presence of the two thieves in the museum’s Blue Room, where a Manet portrait was snatched. The last movement detected that night had been Abath’s footsteps on his initial patrol rounds before the robbery began."

Abath's attorney George Gormley told the Globe, "Sadly, it's the death of a good person," adding, "For him it was just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. His actions were completely appropriate, and this became a curse that he was forced to live with."

In the theft's wake, Abath moved to Brattleboro, Vermont where he worked as a teacher's aide and lived a quiet life with his wife, Diana. Gormley said Abath died peacefully at his home.

"We can't know if Abath was involved as an inside man on the Gardner heist," said Kelly Horan, who reported the WBUR and Boston Globe podcast Last Seen about the heist. "What we do know is that, in the decades since the robbery, Abath did not live the life of someone who had been let in on a multi-million dollar deal in exchange for his silence. It's also not in doubt that, even in death, Rich Abath remains shrouded in suspicion."