Gerald Blanchard

Gerald Blanchard grew up in Canada, and later moved to Omaha, Nebraska with his mother Carol Phegly and sister.

Police thought that, accompanied by his wife and father-in-law posing as tourists, Blanchard disabled the alarm and replaced the jewel with a replica purchased at the souvenir shop.

The loss of a priceless part of Austria's history remained unsolved until Blanchard offered to turn the jewel over to police following his arrest in Canada on fraud and robbery charges.

[8] On 22 March 2010, Wired posted an article online from their April 2010 issue called "Art of the Steal: On the Trail of the World's Most Ingenious Thief" written by Joshuah Bearman.

[10] A book describing Blanchard's infamous theft, Stealing Sisi's Star: How a Master Thief Nearly Got Away with Austria's Most Famous Jewel by journalist Jennifer Bowers Bahney was released 21 May 2015.