On the morning of Nov. 29, 1985, a couple entered The University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson, Arizona.
Within minutes, "Woman-Ochre" — a painting by the Dutch-American artist Willem de Kooning — was gone.
The University of Arizona Museum of ArtAmong Van Auker's purchase was a painting that hung behind the couple's bedroom door, he told CNBC.
Badly damagedOnce the museum took possession of the painting, Miller said, the search was on to find a conservator with the expertise required to repair it.
When the painting was returned, it was in "very poor condition," said Laura Rivers, associate paintings conservator for the J. Paul Getty Museum.