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Stolen Art Worth More Than $100K Returned To Grosse Pointe Woman's Family

GROSSE POINTE, Mich. (AP) — Authorities said they have returned six pieces of contemporary art worth more than $100,000 that were stolen from a suburban Detroit home in 2017.

The screenprints and lithographs were taken from Anne Spivak of Grosse Pointe while she was bedridden, the U.S. attorney's office said Thursday. She died five months later, at age 86.

No arrests have been made. Investigators are asking the public for help to identify the thieves.

"Crimes such as home invasion and robbery targeting the elderly and vulnerable are among the most despicable," said acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin.

The stolen art was created by Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and others. The pieces were consigned to various individuals and a New York gallery when the FBI recovered them.

The art has been returned to Spivak's estate.

"She was upstairs in bed when it happened," son Pete Spivak Jr. said. "She was absolutely heartbroken. She was proud of her collection."

He said the thieves seemed to know what they were stealing.

"Not everything was taken. It was handpicked," Spivak said.


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