A gloved hand lifting the diadem from a shattered museum vitrine
New caseCase AU-0913 · Musée Aurèle · Lyon

Eight Minutes

The heist of the century took eight minutes. The diamonds were fake.

Listen: the briefing on case AU-0913
The rest of the call is in the case file.
0:12

A heist in eight minutes, and a body four days later

Sunday, 09:34. Four men with a hired furniture lift and a disc cutter went through a window of the Musée Aurèle in Lyon and took the Valmont Diadem: 1856, nine principal diamonds, insured for 24 million euros. In and out in eight minutes, and a bystander's video of the raid passed a million views.

Four days later the crew's climber, Karim Benali, was found dead in a lock-up in Villeurbanne, a jeweller's loupe still in his hand. The police file says the crew turned on one of their own. Karim's phone tells a different story.

who had a stake in the diadem

Five suspects. One victim.

Karim BenaliDeceased
Karim BenaliThe crew's climber
Yanis Haddad
Yanis HaddadCrew leader
Rémy Castaing
Rémy CastaingAntiques dealer and fence
Laurent Maze
Laurent MazeMuseum director
Dr. Hélène Varga
Dr. Hélène VargaHead of conservation
Inès Brunet
Inès BrunetConservation photographer

What makes this case different

01Eight minutes, second by second

Rebuild the heist from police timelines, press coverage and phone data.

02Side by side

Compare photographs of the diadem and see what changed, and when.

03A crypto trail

Follow money that only makes sense once you question the official story.

04The days after

The second track: what happened between the heist and the lock-up.

The file so far

Procès-verbal
AU-0913 · Musée Aurèle
Partially released
  1. Musée Aurèle, Sunday 09:34: the Valmont Diadem taken.
  2. Time inside: eight minutes.
  3. Four days later: the crew's climber found dead, .
  4. In his hand: a jeweller’s loupe.
  5. Police theory: the crew silenced him.
  6. His phone: .
The police file says

A settling of scores inside the crew.

Karim's phone says

He was the only one who asked who had hired them.

Your orders

Find out who killed Karim Benali, and where the Valmont Diadem really is.

Lock-up number 7 in Villeurbanne
Exhibit A · lock-up n° 7A celebration cognac, one glass poured. The card is signed with a single letter.
A furniture lift at a museum window
Exhibit B · tourist videoSunday morning. A furniture lift at a museum window. Nobody thought to call the police.

"Welcome. You were chosen from the Bazar. Rules: no names, no calls, no photos of faces."

Exhibit C · the crew's group chatThe crew never met the person who hired them. The victim was the only one who asked who it was.

the insurer wants it back, yesterday

The diadem is still missing. So is the truth.

Eight MinutesHard · about 2 hours · pay once