Geoffrey Kelly

Author of Thirteen Perfect Fugitives & Retired FBI Special Agent

Geoffrey Kelly

Author of Thirteen Perfect Fugitives & Retired FBI Special Agent

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Biography

Geoffrey Kelly was the FBI’s lead investigator in the search for over One Billion Dollars’ worth of artwork stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. Now retired, with more than thirty years of state and federal law enforcement experience. Geoff was one of the original members of the FBI’s elite Art Crime Team and he managed numerous high-profile cases throughout his career and is credited with recovering more than $100 million in stolen artwork and cultural property.

An internationally recognized expert in the field of fine art and antiquities theft, Geoff has trained domestic and international agencies and institutions around the world on proven methods and best practices to prevent art and cultural property theft.

He has a proven track record of solving difficult cases, making him one of the most respected investigators in the field. In addition to identifying the perpetrators of the Gardner Museum robbery, he solved the nation’s largest residential art burglary, recovering all of the stolen artwork and arresting the individual who held them.

Geoffrey has extensive experience investigating violent crimes, including cold-case homicides, bank robberies, and kidnappings, and was the case agent on the real-life notorious Charlestown, MA armored car robbery crew fictionalized in the Ben Affleck movie, The Town (in fact, the main character in the film, Agent Frawley, played by actor Jon Hamm, was based on Geoff). He worked closely with Affleck and the producers on the project and was credited as an advisor on the film.
He was also the case agent on the infamous unsolved Cape Cod homicide from 1974 involving a victim dubbed The Lady of the Dunes. Using investigative DNA genealogy, in 2022 Geoff and his team were able to finally give a name to the victim, Ruth Marie Terry, identify her killer, and bring closure to her family after nearly half a century.

The final art recovery of Geoffrey’s career occurred the same week he retired, when he repatriated twenty-two culturally significant Okinawan artifacts that had been looted in the waning days of World War II. The collection, which included four royal portraits of Okinawan kings, are the first such portraits confirmed to be in existence. They were believed to have been lost forever, and up until Geoff’s recovery, could be studied only from pre-war photographs.

After retiring from the FBI in April 2024, Geoff and his colleagues formed Argus Cultural Property Consultants LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to the preservation and protection of art & cultural property worldwide.

Geoff is a graduate of Boston University where he earned his master’s degree in criminal justice. He serves as an instructor at Harvard University’s Extension School, teaching a graduate-level course on art crime and investigations.

Speech Topics

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist

On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art were plucked from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two subjects posing as police officers. Over the next eighty-one minutes, they stole some of the world’s most valuable artwork, including a rare Vermeer and Rembrandt’s only known seascape -- a total loss estimated at over $1 billion.

For more than two decades, Geoffrey Kelly, one of the original members of the FBI's elite Art Crime Team, was the lead investigator into the heist. Rather than working the case as a traditional stolen property crime, however, he framed it as a fugitive investigation. Thirteen fugitives, to be exact.

In this captivating true crime story, Geoffrey Kelly shares his insights and theories about the case, and recounts his journey to apprehend those thirteen perfect fugitives.

Art & Antiquities Theft

Crimes against art are a multi-billion dollar per year illicit activity. They range from thefts from museums and homes to the trafficking of looted antiquities. In this fascinating talk, Geoffrey Kelly, one of the original members of the FBI's elite Art Crime Team, will explore the impact of art crime and the methods he used to investigate them, relying heavily on real-world examples.

The Recovery of Tom Brady’s Stolen Super Bowl Jerseys

Shortly after the conclusion of Super Bowl LI, New England Quarterback Tom Brady's game jersey was stolen from his locker room at NRG Stadium in Houston. It was recovered five weeks later in Mexico City, along with Brady's Super Bowl XLIX game jersey and Von Miller's Denver Broncos helmet from Super Bowl 50. Geoffrey Kelly, one of the original members of the FBI's elite Art Crime Team, was the FBI's lead investigator on this major theft case, and in this fascinating presentation, will detail the steps he took to identify the thief and recover these important items of sports memorabilia.