In the three weeks following the heist at the Louvre Museum, as investigators delved into the identity of the culprits and the reasons behind the easy theft of the French crown jewels, another mystery lingered: the identity of the "Fedora Man." The dapper youth in a hat, captured on a Sunday outside the museum and quickly circulating on social media, sparked theories about his connection to the crime.
While police swiftly arrested and charged four individuals for their involvement, the Louvre's director admitted that CCTV security was wanting. However, the enigma of the Fedora Man persisted until now.
It turns out that the dandy was a 15-year-old local fan of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux from Rambouillet, southwest of Paris. He had planned to visit the Louvre with his family but found the museum closed. "We didn't know there was a heist," he said.
As he inquired about the closure, an AP photographer capturing the security cordon included Pedro in his frame. He only realized the photo had gone viral four days later when a friend sent him a screenshot asking, "Is that you?"
When Pedro confirmed it was him, his friend revealed that the photo had garnered five million views on TikTok. "I was a bit surprised," Pedro told the AP. He was even more shocked when his mother called to say the picture had appeared in The New York Times.
"People said, 'You've become a star.' I was astonished that just with one photo you can become viral in a few days," he said.
Asked why he wore an old-fashioned waistcoat and a fedora to the museum, Pedro said he had recently started dressing this way, inspired by 20th-century statesmen and fictional detectives. "I like to be chic," he told the AP. "I go to school like this."
As wild speculation about the photo circulated online—some even wondering if he was a real detective or an AI creation—Pedro remained silent for weeks. "I didn't want to say immediately it was me," he said. "With this photo there is a mystery, so you have to make it last."
