Picasso print stolen eight years ago found in abandoned apartment

Milwaukee art gallery owner Bill Delind never thought he would see the Pablo Picasso print that was stolen from his shop in 2018 again.

Until police called him last Sunday and asked if he could come and look at a piece of art that an apartment owner in Milwaukee found while cleaning an abandoned apartment, ABC news reports.

Delind immediately recognized the stolen print "Torero," one of only 30 known copies signed by Picasso.

"I was overwhelmed with emotion. I was speechless. It was an incredible moment," Delind said.

The back of the framed work still had the sticker from his firm, DeLind Fine Art Appraisals, on it, the very one he had placed there in 2018.

"She really was mine. Everything fell into place," he commented.

Milwaukee property owner Tim Derc told WISN-TV that he found the graphic while cleaning the apartment of a person who had been evicted.

"It was hanging in a strange spot on the wall. It looked like it had been there for a very, very long time, because there was a lot of dust on top," said Derz, who showed the print to a friend who deals in antiques.

He recognized it as a Picasso and said it looked like it was the exact work that Delind had reported stolen in 2018. Derc turned it over to the police, who then contacted Delind.

"When they called me, I couldn't believe it," said Delind.

The Milwaukee Police Department said via email Friday that the statute of limitations for theft and property crimes is generally six years, but that the case remains under investigation.

The year it was stolen, the print was estimated to be worth between $35 and $50. The owner assumes that the value hasn't changed much since then, but that because of the whole story surrounding the piece, it could be worth closer to $50 today.

Delind added that his former business partner, who passed away in February, was deeply shaken by the 2018 theft. Every year on the anniversary of the theft, he called the police and asked them to re-release the information about the disappearance, hoping that Picasso would one day be found.