Episode Six: The 1991 Fire Tantrum & The Timeline

Welcome back to Crime & Canvas, the podcast that exposes the hidden truths behind the world's biggest art heist. In this groundbreaking Episode 6, host Suzanne Kenney unravels a mystery that began with cut paintings and a vague explanation, leading to the discovery of a disastrous fire that ties directly to billionaire Frederick R. Koch and a chilling timeline of events.

Suzanne begins by revealing the unusual condition of some of the artworks "Ed Koch" sold her mother, Mary—literally sliced from their frames and bearing water damage. Koch's explanation of a "fire at an art storage warehouse" seemed like an obscure detail until Suzanne's relentless research exposed its stunning significance.

This episode culminates in the discovery of the James Bourlet Storage fire in London on October 7, 1991, a blaze that destroyed millions in art and collectibles, many belonging to Frederick R. Koch. Suzanne connects this fire to a string of events, including Koch's thwarted plans for a London museum, the mysterious murder of Robert Donati (a suspect in the Gardner Heist), and Koch's sudden appearance in Mary's life just weeks later. She also reveals irrefutable digital evidence—iPad searches originating from Monaco and London—that links Frederick R. Koch and John Olsen directly to terms like "art fraud," indicating a desperate panic over exposure.

Listen now to hear:

• The initial mystery of the cut and water-damaged artwork and "Ed Koch's" vague explanation of a "fire at an art storage warehouse."
• The pivotal discovery of the 1991 James Bourlet Storage fire in London and its direct connection to Frederick R. Koch's extensive art collection and failed museum plans.
• How Julian Radcliffe of the Art Loss Register, the fire's insurance adjuster, implied the artwork Suzanne presented was "destroyed," yet returned the physical drawings.
• Suzanne's theory that the artwork was intentionally cut to file insurance claims, leaving the frames to burn while the originals were saved.
• Compelling digital evidence—including iPad IP addresses from Monaco and a luxury London hotel—showing Frederick R. Koch and John Olsen frantically searching for "art fraud" around the time Suzanne began reporting her discoveries.
• The unsettling timeline linking the Gardner Heist, Robert Donati's murder, the London fire, and Frederick Koch's sudden appearance in Mary's life.

Dive into the truth that authorities ignore. The real story continues here.

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The Truth Is Still The Truth Even If No One Believes It!

Transcript

This is Suzanne Kenney and you're listening to the Crime and Canvas Podcast. In the previous episodes, we discussed how Frederick R. Koch arrived in my mother's life, the incredible artworks he sold her, the randomly decoded handwritten notes, and my own research that led to Miami discoveries and the challenging fight for authentication. Today, we're unraveling one of the deepest layers of this entire story – a mystery that started with cut paintings and a vague explanation and led me to a fire that changed everything. Welcome to Episode 6: The 1991 Fire Tantrum & The Timeline.

When Mr. Koch first arrived selling my mother, Mary, artwork at her flea market booth in Okeechobee, Florida, some of the pieces were visibly cut. I mean, literally sliced right out of their frames. This includes the Van Gogh painting, one of the Picassos, and two of the Jane Peterson paintings. Beyond being cut, some of the artwork also had visible water damage.

To truly follow along with the evidence we discuss in this episode, please visit crimeandcanvaspodcast.com and click on the "Evidence" tab in the top navigation. Many of the visuals we're referring to are posted there for you to explore as you listen.

He told my mother that the artwork had been saved from a "fire at an art storage warehouse." I remember asking my mother, "What does that even mean?" She said, “she didn't know; nothing further was ever discussed about it.” And honestly, at the time, we had never even heard of an "art storage warehouse."

When we review the handwritten notes from Mr. Koch's visits with my mother – notes that we are trying to decode in Episode 3 – there are several mentions of a "Washington Art Storage" in Miami. For years, my mother and I always thought the fire he mentioned must have happened at this Miami location. I remember my son, daughter, husband, and I spending countless hours searching through news articles online, trying to find this fire in Miami. But we always came up empty.

During this same time was when I found out who "Ed Koch" truly was: Frederick Robinson. Koch. And with that discovery came the even more shocking realization – he was alive. It was actually my son who found him, along with his twin brothers, details about their infamous lawsuits, and their well-known dislike for each other. It all fit.

My son also found contact information for John Olsen, who is Frederick Koch's companion. I emailed him, including photos of all the artwork. And funny enough, Olsen's very first response to me was that Frederick was "off on a yacht" at the moment and that he had sent him a fax with the photos. Ironic, isn't it? As we discussed in Episode 1, Frederick had told my mother stories of a luxury life that included yachts. Looking back now, knowing that Frederick never traveled without John, that first email was a massive red flag that I wouldn't fully grasp until much later.

Then, at the end of January 2011, I received the last email from John Olsen, sent on Frederick's behalf. I quote: "He [Mr. Koch] has never owned or possessed works by Calder or Picasso, Jane Peterson, etc. He has never been fond of, let alone collected, works of this period." Olsen also claimed that "Mr. Koch has never been to Okeechobee, FL." Oh, and he also stated that they have a database keeping all their purchases, sales, and donation records going back forty years, and that none of the artists I emailed about were in there. This was the first mention of any database.

Why would we believe a database they themselves created, especially if they wanted to cover this whole thing up like it never happened? Creating such a database, they might figure, is a perfect fix. Unless an insurance company, like Lloyds of London, has insured specific pieces, but we can't get anyone to help prove that. If Fred never liked or collected artwork from the artists my mother claims he sold to her, why would you even need to check your database? And why not just say that in the first email instead of the "off on a yacht and needing to fax him" story?

That’s when I decided to Google any variation of Frederick Koch and art he would have sold with Sotheby’s or Christie’s, and upon my search for “Frederick Koch and Sotheby’s,” what I found next - was confirmation. The top result was an article title that read: “Art market: Victorian values: Official objections and a disastrous fire ended an American millionaire’s plans for a museum here to show his splendid 19th-century paintings. Now he is giving–up and selling–up.”

After reading just the headline, my stomach turned. I just knew there was something special about it. Up until this point, we had no answers. And now, here it was, staring back at me. I had found THE art storage warehouse fire.

The article talked about a fire in November of 1991 at an art storage warehouse in London. We’d been so focused on the Washington Art Storage in Miami, which Mr. Koch had mentioned in his notes, but after reading more about the London fire, it all seemed too perfect to ignore. The article uses Frederick Koch’s name and explains that he never speaks to the press and doesn’t allow the auction houses to use his name. It even stated, “Identifying the paintings that belong to him [have been] a little problematic,” which has been proven true over and over again when trying to prove he sold my mother this artwork. The dots were slowly starting to connect.

I truly believe that many of the pieces of art Frederick Koch sold my mother were from that specific fire that happened at the James Bourlet Storage in London on October 7th, 1991. The fire was ruled suspicious and remains unsolved to this day. The fire fit with the timeline. The fire happened barely a month before Frederick first showed up at the market in Okeechobee in November of 1991.

According to the news article, art was being stored in that London warehouse to eventually be put in a mansion Frederick had bought to convert into a museum. Unfortunately, the production was stalled when the London historical committee started fighting against him. They denied almost all of his requests. He had converted the staircase, and the historical society wanted the staircase restored back to original. He had hired an architect to help him with his appeal. And he lost his appeal, and the historical society made him revert the stairs back. So even though he complied with all their unnecessary and confusing rules, they still made him undo the work, costing him millions of dollars he would never get back. 

To make matters worse, he lost even more when the fire consumed artwork, furnishings, and collectibles. But some of what was left, we believe, is what he sold to my mother for a couple of dollars each.

Again, it raises the question: if he had lost so much from the London historical committee and the fire, then why sell it so cheaply to my mother and make nothing off of it himself? He could have just sold the art and made up for some of the money he had lost. Did a guilty conscience have something to do with it? And if so, what had he done that was so bad he would get rid of millions of dollars worth of art and seemingly not care about it at all? I guess that’s something only a billionaire could do.

The article about the London storage art fire stated that Lloyds of London was the insurance company. So I emailed them. As they were my only lead at the time, I prayed that there was some sort of connection they could give me. Information was so hard to come by that another rejection might just be too much. After an exchange of emails, Lloyds of London referred me to Julian Radcliffe, who was the insurance adjuster on the 1991 London fire. As a result of that very fire, Mr. Radcliffe had eventually gone on to create a company called The Art Loss Register, or ALR, and was still in the art business when he reached out to me about our family potentially possessing some of the art from the James Bourlet Storage incident.

I sent him several emails explaining my mother’s story. To be honest, Mr. Radcliffe communicated back as if he hadn’t even been reading the emails I sent at all. His responses were dismissive, like my reporting this was a waste of his time. Because, well, it was just art owned by a rich guy. Who really cared if it was recovered and now trying to be sold? 

It was after these initial exchanges that I decided to take a bold step. I mailed him the Alexander Calder drawings, even offering them to him as payment if he would please help us with this case. It was then that his response left me with a pit in my stomach.  

His response “It has been known for people to fake the art work which has been destroyed.”

How would I know what artwork’s been destroyed? Is there some kind of public knowledge? I haven’t been able to find this artwork that we have ANYWHERE. So he must think it’s destroyed though. Why would that be? And why would they not question that? 

Julian Radcliffe’s statement implied that the art I had sent him photos of, and even the physical drawings, was, in fact, destroyed. I immediately responded, asking him to return the artwork back to me, and he did. If those drawings were indeed forgeries, wouldn't you think they would have been seized for investigation? The fact that they were simply returned speaks volumes.

This leads us to a critical theory about the cut artwork: What if the artwork was intentionally cut out, leaving the frames behind with some remnants of the paintings? Then, insurance claims could be filed for the "destroyed" pieces. But the artwork didn’t actually burn – just its frame and outer pieces left from the cutting of the paintings. Which could be why Julian Radcliffe would be so convinced that they were destroyed. Because they had seen the destroyed remnants with their own eyes. It’s strange that all the canvases were cut this way. News reports confirm that not all belongings in the fire were destroyed; a lot was recovered. My belief is that the artwork was never truly destroyed, and Mr. Koch sold my mother the originals.

Nonetheless, after this, I got some notifications on my website, TheArtworkStory.com, that secured my belief that I was on the right track. There were a series of visits from Google searches with different variations of “Frederick R. Koch,” “Sutton Place,” “Art Fraud,” and “Frederick R. Koch John Olsen Art Fraud.” What art fraud were they looking for? This could have been anyone, but over several months there were over sixty visits from an iPad in Monaco, where Frederick owns a home. For some random person in Monaco to come in and type those keywords, it seemed far too unlikely to be a coincidence. It all was too much of a coincidence. As Nancy Grace once said, "There are no coincidences in criminal law."

On the website under the evidence tab, in the top navigation, you can find the Monaco screenshots to follow along.

Let's break down what it shows:

It Shows Searches for "frederick koch art fraud" / "frederick koch john olsen art fraud": These aren't casual searches. This is someone desperately looking up their own name, linked to "art fraud," and their alleged accomplice. John Olsen. Who else would search those terms in such a specific way unless they were concerned about exposure?

The Monaco IP Addresses (e.g., 88.209.79.76.dynamic.monaco.mc): Multiple entries show these searches originating directly from Monaco. This is crucial because Monaco is a non-common law country, a specific detail from the mysterious 1994 letter written to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. That letter stated the art was being stored in a "non-common law country" chosen for legal protection. The direct alignment between the IP address, the letter, and Koch's known residence is undeniable. 

The Athenaeum Hotel, in London (wifi.athenaeumhotel.com - IP 77.73.10.198): One specific search for "frederick koch art fraud" originated from the Wi-Fi of this luxury 5-star hotel in London (https://www.athenaeumhotel.com/). Only someone of considerable wealth would typically stay at such an establishment. This places the same person from Monaco, years after the James Bourlet & Sons fire in London (in October 1991, which destroyed Koch's belongings), still obsessing over his alleged fraud from a high-end London location. This matching iPad device signature across these Monaco and London logs confirms it's the very same individual. I wish authorities would look into The Athenaeum Hotel records, which can confirm Frederick R. Koch's stay and connect him directly to this crucial digital footprint of guilt.

The Dates & My Report: These frantic searches are clustered around early 2011. This is no coincidence—this is precisely the period when I was actively reporting Frederick R. Koch's art transactions with my mother (which I had just begun to understand as abnormal) I was then reporting them to Robert Wittman, a former FBI agent and founder of the FBI's art crimes division. Within a week or so, maybe a couple of weeks, I discovered the James Bourlet & Sons fire and then contacted Lloyd's of London, who passed my report to Julian Radcliffe, the lead investigator of that very 1991 fire.

At this time, in 2011, I had no knowledge of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist; my focus was on my mother's story and the fire. It wasn't until June 2012 that I solved the heist. Um, you would think if I was some scammer, I would have come out with the heist from the beginning back in 2002 — when I first surfaced online with the eBay listing. Anyhow. 

At this time in 2011, Koch’s sudden, frantic searches for "art fraud" using his own name directly aligned with the timeline of my early reports hitting critical ears. My website, TheArtworkStory.com, registered on October 3, 2010, was at this point known only to the select individuals and institutions I was communicating with – acting as an online journal of my findings. These logs show him finding his way to my website from Google by searching for his own name.

The recorded iPad device signature on the logs is the same one from both Monaco and the London hotel, directly tying Koch to these locations and these specific searches for "art fraud."

This image is a window into the mind of the alleged perpetrator. It’s not a theory; it’s a direct digital trace of panic and a desperate need to control a narrative around art fraud. It puts Frederick R. Koch and John Olsen squarely in the center of their own investigation into exposure. This isn't a "conspiracy theory"— this is EVIDENCE. Everything I have provided is backed up with EVIDENCE. EVERYTHING!

My extensive Miami research, guided by my mother's notes, uncovered Frederick R. Koch's connections to the International Art Trading and an Art Restoration company. Knowledge of "non-common law countries" and their legal protections for assets is a hallmark of expertise in international art laws and trading. This combination of digital evidence, a 1994 letter, and documented business ties paints an alarming picture: someone with intimate knowledge of international art logistics, potentially even moving the stolen art through Miami International Airport to Monaco, was in a state of panic over "art fraud."

This is the kind of irrefutable evidence that authorities have ignored for far too long. It's time to demand action.

I also emailed Robert Wittman about my discovery of the London fire and how Lloyds of London had Julian Radcliffe contact me. This was prior to seeing him at the Palm Beach International Art Show in February 2012 (which I discussed in the previous episode) and prior to me solving the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist in 2012. Where it turned out, Robert Wittman had the Koch Brothers at the Palm Beach International Art Show that very day. Which we discussed in a previous episode.

I informed him about my discoveries, including the London fire. When I met him at the Palm Beach International Art Show, and the Koch brothers—Charles, David, and William – were also present, seemingly there to intimidate me, at Robert Wittman’s invitation. Robert Wittman responded in a stern voice, “Look, there are no crimes with your mother’s artwork!” 

It was like a slap in the face. Again, another person telling me my own family’s story is wrong.

Despite having already spent several thousands of dollars between travel fees, hiring experts, and sharing my mother’s story, Wittman dismissed it. He seemed suspicious, even snatching an eBay listing I offered to verify my claims. He was curious about John Olsen sending photos to Sotheby's, but his only responses were stares off into the distance. I had said all this, even with the Koch brothers walking around, because I wanted answers; I wanted help. I wanted someone to finally be on our side. After seeing the Koch brothers at the event that day, I was fully prepared to discuss my mother’s story with them. But they never tried to talk. They were only there to intimidate me. And it seemed, like I said before, with the FBI's assistance. How else would they have known to be there? I had emailed Robert Wittman letting him know I was coming. A couple of months prior. Anyhow.

It all felt so surreal. Running into the Koch brothers. Seeing John Olsen. Talking to Mr. Wittman. But it made it so much more real than it had been, and I knew I couldn’t give up. This story had to be solved, if not for my mother, then for me. I had to keep going.

This is not just about a few art pieces. This is about high-level corruption and a systemic cover-up by institutions—the FBI, most levels of the government, agencies formed to solve crimes, all media outlets, museums, and universities. For me, the cover-up is more troubling than the actual crimes I have uncovered. I read articles every day that share people's opinions—that aren't necessarily fact-checked—and theories on all kinds of topics. The information I am sharing is true and from actual encounters—yet I am ignored. I keep hoping I will find someone somewhere to finally help me. In the words of Lady Gaga, it only takes one person.

And to be fair, I realize at times maybe it wasn’t just necessarily corruption; maybe it was just a struggle to believe the craziness of this story. I get that, but this is a billion—dollar story. 

It is definitely within everyone’s pay level to be investigating and looking into this. Those that I am reaching out to, I mean. So anyhow.

First, Donati, from the art heist, claims several hundred thousand dollars were paid by a billionaire for the art heist. I find you the billionaire, and because he is a billionaire, he is innocent. Yet news articles quote Donati, a known mafia criminal, about being paid by a billionaire to do the heist... But the news won't quote my story about my mother's real-life art encounters with a billionaire. This is why most of you probably struggle with what is being presented; you never see my art heist theories reported in the news. We discuss this more in Episode 8: Media Silence, Institutional Silence, and Cover-Up.

Second, most of this artwork is gone; we don't even know where it is today. So once this story makes news, there will probably be a bunch of people coming forward with some artwork. How exciting will that be for them? My goal is to prove I solved these crimes—not to get this artwork authenticated. I want to prove that those involved in these art crimes are Frederick R. Koch, John Olsen, and William Koch. And most importantly, what I am trying to get exposed is the corruption and the biases that exist and just the journey I have been through.

The theories I present at crimeandcanvaspodcast.com and theartworkstory.com include facts with supporting documents. They are just as worthy to be heard as reported statements from mobsters or people who deal with mobsters. It seems as if these mafia-mobster theories are the only theories the news wants to report on—theories that can't be fact-checked any better than the theories being made by me. Though I will say my final theory does include the mafia, but not how it is being reported. That we will discuss in the next episode.

Let's look at Frederick R. Koch's background. News articles from his family's history reveal a deeply complex picture:

"At one point when their father was alive, his family list with everyone’s name–including the sons–and Frederick was removed from that very list. Something happened that for a time in his life, Frederick was not recognized as part of the family.”

“When their father, Frederick Koch, died in 1967, he left his eldest son out of his will (though he had previously provided for him, with the creation of two trusts).”

Even in the 1990s his mother ended up disinheriting him. Because she wasn’t pleased with his behavior.

“According to court testimony from Charles, their father removed Frederick from his will because he had been repeatedly stealing from him in the years before his death and then lied about it when confronted with the evidence.”

“Frederick lifted traveler’s checks, cash, and an air travel card from their dad,” Charles said; he also alleged in court records that his older brother forged his signature on their father’s Brooks Brothers charge account. Charles’s contempt for his bon vivant brother was apparent in court. “Over the years,” he testified, “I had accepted my father’s analysis of Freddie of not really being a whole person, of being a person who was amoral and not capable of true feelings towards other people.”

These articles back up the character of the person I am claiming did these crimes. You have this billionaire struggling with righting something that is beyond one’s imagination—things that just aren’t going his way; his money can’t fix this the way he is used to. A man who has never had to work a day in his life.

His only reason for visiting with my mother and doing what he did was to make himself feel better. Feel better for some art crimes he committed, crimes that most don’t really care about. But to this man, it was different. 

He left my mother to struggle with selling artwork beyond her comprehension and then hid from the truth when reality came calling.

It takes a very selfish person to leave my mother and our family to go alone with what we've been through while standing up for this story.

No one should have to go through that. This man’s actions and the consequences thereof and how that wove itself into an unsuspecting family’s lives is the core of the amazing story I am trying to share.

Over the years, when my mother would share her story, people would ask why this man would do what she claims he did. She doesn't have the answer for that other than what she has shared about his visits. In my many years of researching my mother's story, I have had the same question about why the man did this. Why did he sell her artwork of such varying values? There’s just so many questions. It’s unfair to put the questions of the motives on the victim, right? What victim has to answer the questions of the criminal? Maybe a lot, I don’t know.

People do seemingly strange acts all the time due to their guilt and their emotions. From the outside, it was strange at first, but once I connected everything, it started to make sense. Frederick just wanted to right his wrongs in a way that was considered a "good deed." He sold off artwork like he was doing so from a checklist of his crimes—probably to fix disappointing his mother, participating in the heist, feeling responsible for Robert Donati’s death, and likely other things we don’t even know about. This was the one thing that made perfect sense in a story where nothing else did.

Consider the timeline: The James Bourlet & Sons London art storage fire occurred October 7, 1991. This was just 13 days after Robert Donati was discovered murdered on September 24, 1991, a murder that occurred because of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist. A few weeks after this fire, in November of 1991, "Mr. Koch" arrived in my mother's life, beginning to teach her about the art world—as documented in the notes written during his visits with my mother.

There is a chance that the information I am providing might actually be helpful in solving these art crimes. Because at the end of the day, these art crimes did happen, and there is an answer to who did the crimes, including the high likelihood they were done by a billionaire. I am providing real, factual information that can all be proven and backed up with legal documents connecting to an art-loving billionaire. I am not providing you with a "theory" based on internet research, like other "internet researchers" who have written books on the Isabella art heist and are published in news articles as a source of information. Not one of the published books on the art heist comes from firsthand art encounters. They also get to put their theories on the Wikipedia page. Which was one of the reasons I decided to publish my book. 

I thought with a published book you can report your theory just like the others are. And instead I was reported as a vandal. I’m a vandal. Take that. Absorb that for a moment. All my actions. All my standing up. I’M THE VANDAL. Anyhow.

My mother's story unveiled a world of master artists and immense art crimes. Amidst that revelation, the profound injustice and calculated deception became undeniable, and it is precisely for this reason that I stand. This podcast is my unwavering act of defiance against those who wield the power to bury truth and silence voices. I will not be silenced. 

Attempts to intimidate me only confirm that I am hitting the nerves of the corruption. My mother’s story is a living testament to systemic corruption, highlighting the desperate need for powerful accountability and the very foundation of justice. Your engagement—by listening, sharing, and connecting—is how we dismantle their silence and ensure this full story reaches the public. We are building a community where every unheard voice finds its strength. The time has come to demand that justice is served and truth prevails.

In our next episode, Episode 7: The Checklist, The Heist, Solved, we discuss the heist and Robert Donati along with the checklist that I put together.

I urge you to take action. Email info@propublica.org to demand coverage of my 15-year fight for justice. Tell them you’ve heard the evidence on the Crime & Canvas Podcast. 

#CrimeAndCanvasPodcast when you share this episode.

And remember, if you're going through a similar struggle, if you have a voice that needs to be heard, visit uhv.news. I started uhv.news because every voice matters.

Thank you for joining me on the Crime & Canvas podcast. This is Suzanne Kenney. I'm grateful for your time and your willingness to hear this story. Let's always remember, the truth is still the truth, even if no one believes it.