DNA, vehicle tracking help France recover 2 stolen Renoirs
What's new: Prosecutors charged four men and moved after suspect surveillance pointed to a possible second museum heist.
French investigators recovered two Renoir paintings worth 4.2 million euros after DNA from an abandoned protective cover and vehicle-tracking data led them to four suspects in the Sept. 8 museum theft. Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the works were stolen from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where thieves cut through a fence and entered through the ground floor before an alarm brought police within four minutes. The suspects allegedly fled without two of four paintings, then hid the recovered works behind a wall under a staircase at a third suspect's home. Two men were jailed pending further investigation, while two others were released under judicial supervision and barred from leaving France.