The Skeleton Key Chronicles

14 hours ago

It was just after midnight, technically March 18, but in Boston it was still riding the tail end of St. Patrick’s Day, when the city had been packed with crowds for hours.

Inside the museum, 23-year-old security guard Rick Abath was working the overnight shift. Shortly after 1:20 a.m., two men dressed as Boston police officers approached a side entrance and rang the buzzer, saying they were responding to a disturbance call. At that hour, with the city still coming down from the night before, it didn’t immediately sound out of place.

Abath spoke with them through the intercom, then made a decision that would later be picked apart for years, unlocking the door and letting them inside despite standing instructions that no one was to be admitted overnight.

Once inside, everything changed. The two men told him he was under arrest, brought in a second guard, and within minutes both were restrained and moved to the basement while the men moved freely through the building.

Over the next hour and twenty minutes, they went through the galleries, pulling five works directly from their frames and leaving empty spaces behind on the walls. By the time they left, 13 pieces were gone, including major works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, and Degas, in what would become the largest art heist ever recorded.

And when you look at what was taken, it doesn’t reallt add up. Some of the most valuable works in the museum were left right where they were, while other less expensive pieces nearby were removed instead.

Items collected at the scene, including handcuffs and duct tape that may have carried forensic evidence, were later reported lost during the investigation, and while leads over the years pointed in several directions, none led to the recovery of the artwork.

More than three decades later, not a single piece has been returned, and the empty frames still hang in the museum exactly where the paintings were taken.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

16 hours ago

Two people connected to the same research project have now gone missing within months of each other, one of them the retired Air Force general who oversaw the work.

By now you’ve probably heard about the disappearance of Major General William “Neil” McCasland, 68, who has been missing in Albuquerque for two weeks.

What is getting more attention now is that a former colleague of his, Monica Reza, also disappeared a few months earlier.

Reza, 60, an aerospace engineer who worked on a materials project overseen by McCasland, was last seen hiking in the Angeles National Forest near Mount Waterman. According to investigators, she was walking just behind a companion on the trail when she vanished from view. Despite search efforts, she has not been located.

Back in New Mexico, the last confirmed activity involving McCasland happened the morning of February 27 at his home on Quail Run Court. A repairman had been at the residence earlier that morning, and a short time later his wife left for an appointment. When she returned just before noon, he was gone.

Investigators say his phone, prescription glasses, and wearable devices were all still inside the home. After attempts to reach him were unsuccessful, he was reported missing later that afternoon.

Authorities say several items appear to be missing from the home, including his hiking boots, wallet, and a .38. About a week into the search, a gray Air Force sweatshirt was found roughly a mile from the residence, though it has not been confirmed to belong to him.

Search efforts remain active in both cases as investigators continue working to determine what happened to William “Neil” McCasland and Monica Reza.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

23 hours ago

For nearly 45 years, a man found in Blount County, Tennessee was known only as John Doe, but that all changed last week.

On April 4, 1981, local hunters in the East Miller’s Cove area came across an unexpected find in the woods, the body of a man. At the time, investigators could only estimate that he was between 18 and 35 years old, and with no ID and not much else to go on, the case stalled out over the years.

By 2007, technology advanced and a DNA profile was developed from the remains and entered into both CODIS and NamUs, but nothing came back, leading to another lull in the investigation. Then in March 2025, investigators sent another sample to Othram in Texas for advanced forensic genetic genealogy testing. Scientists there quickly identified possible relatives, and investigators later obtained a family reference sample for a conclusive comparison.

That testing confirmed the mans identity as William Thomas Green, born March 29, 1942, and originally from the Knoxville area about 30 miles away. Investigators say Green was last seen by family around 1977, which means he had been missing for years before his remains were ever found.

Now that he has his name back, investigators are hoping someone may still remember who he was with or what was happening in his life that led to him being found there,

If you have information about William Thomas Green or the people he may have been associated with before his death, contact the Blount County Sheriff’s Office. Anonymous tips can also be submitted.

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