02/02/2026
The mystery deepens…A real life art heist and a miraculous discovery!
Three years ago, October 8, 2022, someone broke in to my art studio on Antioch street in Pacific Palisades and stole 11 paintings. It was heartbreaking and bewildering. Why would someone steal my work? There is no way they could sell them for what they are worth. When the LAPD detective assigned to the case was able to track down some camera footage from across the street, she said it appeared to be a professional job, which made even less sense. I’m not Monet. There’s no international black market for my work. Crazy. I went on the news, registered on the international art loss registry, had so much support from everyone but, alas, no leads that paid off. I just had to hope that whoever stole them didn’t toss them out. I had to hope that one day they might come back to me.
A couple years later my neighbors and I experienced much, much greater loss. My home, storefront and dozens of paintings burned into nothingness in the Palisades fire. My whole, beautiful town, - just gone. I’ve had to learn how to accept loss in order to move on.
But then…. A couple of weeks ago, I was painting one afternoon in my temporary studio in Santa Monica when I got a mysterious email. “I believe this is yours” was the subject line. An unsigned email informed me that they had one of my paintings but would only be in Los Angeles for a few more days. If I wanted it back they left a phone number. They attached a grainy photo of one of my stolen paintings against a wall “in case I thought this was a scam.” No name. No info on how they got the painting. So yes, my first instinct was that this was some sort of scam.
A couple hours ticked by and I thought, but what if it’s NOT a scam. What if they have it? What’s the worst thing that can happen if I call this number? I’m not going to give them any gift cards.
I called. A woman answered and explained the situation. Her husband’s aunt, Ella Zarky, had died last year at 99 years old. Her house had survived the Palisades fire and they were in town doing remediation and sorting through her estate. Most of her art collection was abstract or street/folk art but when the niece went out to the garage she found this painting that didn’t seem to fit the rest of the collection. She did a google image search of the painting and found the page on my website where I list my stolen art!
She said she was in the Palisades on Marinette street for another couple of hours if I wanted to come by and get it. I convinced myself that this was probably not some elaborate plan to murder me and headed off into the dark and foggy night, through the deserted Alphabet streets, winding up Chautauqua onto a little street with a few inhabited houses. I’ve watched enough true crime shows that I didn’t want to ring the door of the plastic covered entrance so I called. A friendly woman came out and opened the garage.
Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracle - there was my painting! After a year of so much loss and grief, something came back. Something literally survived the fire!
The niece had no idea how Ella would have got it. While still very active for a nonagenarian, she didn’t drive herself. She did a lot of outreach with the homeless population, so that was one possibility.
Beyond grateful and still in disbelief, I drove the painting back to my studio to start researching how to remediate fine art that has been in a fire zone. I turned the painting around, and there I saw - Someone had signed the stretcher bars on the back as if to pass the artwork off as their own! It looks to me like it says “K. Carr” but I’m not totally sure.
So, dear reader, I lay before you a real life true crime mystery. How did Ms. Zarky take possession of one of my missing paintings? Who signed the back? How did they get the paintings? And most importantly - where are the other 10 missing works?
https://www.oneillsfineart.com/collections/182561
