All That Glitters | 10

Listen to the complete season ad-free by subscribing to Curiouscast Discovery exclusively on Apple Podcasts. This CC star, that dazzling jewel immortalized in the stunning Winterholtar portrait of Empress Elizabeth of Austria, which shot her to stardom, with a galaxy of glittering stars woven through her glossy hair. And now, the last of those stars known to exist has just touched down in Vienna, and she's quite something. Flashing her sparkling diamonds for the cameras, that glossy, creamy, hurl center. Everybody was happy. Newspaper editor Johanna Rizicka has sent a photographer to capture the moment, because this is some headline. Austria's crown jewel home again. The last CC star is back. But there's also a little bit of confusion, because of course, no one really knew the CC star was missing in the first place. The Shen Brun Palace hushed up the theft for security reasons. So, learning of the daredevil story of Daniel Blanchard's Skydive theft ten years later is a bit of an eyebrow razor to say the least. I'm a journalist, and when I see a story, I usually recognise a good story, and this thing was so incredible. Perhaps a bit too incredible? This story is already so unbelievable. And it's not just the whole James Bond spin that Johanna thinks smells fishy. Something else doesn't sit right with her. Because when she studies the photos of the newly returned CC star, she notices something about the jewel. Something that makes her question whether all those newspaper headlines got it wrong. This is a true. Okay, so the diamonds glitter. Just as they do in the famous Winterhalter painting in which 27 stars are woven through Empress Sees' hair. But she still can't make it add up. That's not correct. You see, if you examine the Winterhalter painting more closely, you'll see that in the centre of each of those 27 stars are diamonds. Only diamonds. Not a single pearl in sight. The star is not the Winterhalter star. So what exactly did Daniel Blanchard steal? From Curious Cast and Blanchard House, I'm Seren Jones. And this is a most audacious heist. [Music] Episode 10. All Fat Glitters. Gerald Daniel Blanchard stands charged. One. That the said Gerald Daniel Blanchard on her vote the 15th day of the day. November 2007, nearly a year after Daniel Blanchard was caught. And it's his day of reckoning. When the Court of Queen's Bench Winnipeg will hand Daniel his sentence. With the weight of evidence against him, he could only plead guilty. So there's been no trial. And those charges just keep on coming. Yes, I remember all the charges. All 16 of them. Danny Gunn is Daniel's lawyer. It was a significant and healthy indictment. Adept all those charges and on paper at least, Daniel Blanchard's looking at 160 years inside. But when he appears in court, it's disarming. Because Daniel doesn't exactly look like your typical badass criminal. Plus, he's very humble and contrite. He was very much himself. He apologized. I think the judge was, I think, rather impressed with Dan and his approach to things. And so he was quite sincere and straightforward in his desire to live a better life. Despite his evident admiration for Daniel's skill, the judge can't resist teasing him for the slip-ups that got him caught. Like renting the car for the CIBC bank heist in his own name. But the judge also sees potential in Daniel. He even suggests a career path he might follow. Post his release from jail, that is. He said that you should work for the bank so you could work in the financial industry to assist them in creating better security environments and better security services. And Dan took that under advisement, I think, would be fair to say. He was interested. Even superintendent Gordon Schumacher's almost one over. To be honest, for a normal criminal, he didn't seem like such a bad guy. He's not one of those criminals that we hate forever. But it's not just Daniel's good character that impresses the court. It's also his offer to pay back what he's stolen. He says, "Yeah, I've also got a bunch of condos. I mean, I could sell some of them. I could pay back a bunch of money." And as it turns out, Daniel's piggy bank is rather full. Yes, well, then how much money could you realistically afford to pay back? So I don't know, maybe like. I don't know, like two and a half million dollars or so? That's like. Well, that would definitely help, too, Dan. Yeah. That would definitely help, too. But the real sweetener, of course, is the C.C. Star, which turns out to be worth its weight in gold. Journalist Jennifer Bowers-Barnie. The judge received the star and held it at the bench and looked at it and was like, "Wow, all this fuss for this little star." There, cupped in the judge's hands for all in court to see this little star. Yet a star that carries such huge historical importance. And for the judge, well, that's really what clinches the deal. The judge, he said, "The fact that you handed this over and it's so famous and the Viennese have wanted it back for so long, I'm gonna accept your deal." And before he parts with it forever, Daniel's lucky star shakes him one last little drop of magic. So a full sentence of eight years effectively? Yes, despite on paper facing life in prison, Daniel actually gets just eight years, reduced to six on account of the year he's already spent in custody. And all thanks to a stolen star. A star whose pedigree isn't quite what it seems, because those 27 diamond stars in the Winterhalter painting? The 27 Winterhalter stars are still missing and one small star is nothing compared to that. You see it turns out that C.C.'s original 27 stars. They were taken by someone else, someone who got to them long before Daniel Blanchard. Right here we can see the death mask of Elizabeth. You can see it looks absolutely perfect here. We're at the C.C. Museum in Vienna with historian and tour guide Regina Neuhauser looking at the death mask of the Empress' face made after she was murdered in Geneva, aged 61. But the plaster cast, supposed to be an exact likeness from which future portraits could be made, doesn't quite ring true. You can see it's an impeccable beauty which of course does not correspond to what she looked like when she died. Yes, C.C. even controlled her image from beyond the grave. A week after her death, Cece was buried. Her funeral procession was dazzling. Austrian, German, and Hungarian soldiers in blood red and peacock blue uniforms marched through Vienna's streets. Guilt helmets flashing in the sunlight. No one spoke a word. And then Cece's hearse approached the chapel. It's pulled by eight black horses, each plumed with ostrich feathers. But their hooves are almost muffled on the cobbles. The palace has ordered the streets to be covered with sand to deaden the sound. Naturally, there's a huge crowd, yet few people shed tears as her coffin passed. Austrian rarely saw their empress who felt so stifled in Vienna, and she fled the city whenever she could. She felt like a missfit. She was a missfit. But her husband, Emperor Franz Joseph, is devastated by her death. I'm not able to understand this kind of love that he fought for her, because she did very little for him, but she really respected him. It's Franz Joseph, of course, who gave Cece her stars. The 27 stars that set her on her impossible quest for eternal youth and beauty, and that drove her to be the best, whatever the cause, whatever the cost. And Cece felt guilty about her husband. She wrote, "Your prematurely graying hair reproaches me silently. All this time, over all these years, I never deserved your loyalty. I think she was a disappointed woman at the end. She died a disappointed lonely woman. But I don't necessarily think she would consider all her life a waste. Our royal historian, Tessa Dunlop, is sure Cece felt unfulfilled. But who doesn't have regrets? If you want the kind of Hollywood ending, if you could say, you know, in the end it undid her, her quest always to reach beyond herself, to reach for the stars was going to see her disappointed. But if you use that philosophy, then no one would get out of bed and reach for the stars." Like Daniel Blanchard, Cece reached for those stars. And just like Daniel and his audacious heists, Cece often pulled it off against the odds. I mean, just look at her achievements. Remember, Cece was never even meant to be an Empress at all. Her sister was opposed to my Franz Joseph. Cece had arrived in Vienna for her wedding as an innocent young girl from Bavaria, tongue tied with shyness. But then she taught herself to speak multiple languages, completely fluently. She didn't just ride well. She was the best horse rider in Europe. And even though she had no training and diplomacy, Cece not only found a way to end hostilities with neighbouring Hungary, she even managed to become its queen. So while Cece certainly isn't the most conventional Empress Austria has ever known, she's certainly the most memorable. If you want to take a message from Cece's life, it's that sometimes the impossible is achievable. Arguably she did that. She was exceptional. Mystical even. Because she used her extraordinary beauty to build her own legend. But when she started to believe in her own myth, that's when things came undone. Her mental health spiraled as she became obsessed with guarding her image above everything else. And that narcissism means Cece is not without her critics, even today. I think she was a little bit spoiled. Journalist Johanna Rizicke can't forgive Cece for her selfish pursuits. All that time spent on her hair and beauty regimes, when she might have been helping her subjects, the Austrian people she was meant to serve. Elizabeth was much spoiled in her way of thinking and way of living. She could have done more. But spoiled Cece wasn't entirely selfish. In fact, she often secretly visited patients in mental hospitals, perhaps recognizing in them the illness that was present in herself. So while Tessa Dunlop agrees, Cece was often self-obsessed, she doesn't buy into the theory that Empress Cece was just vain. Vanity suggests a pointlessness. But we know Cece had to see herself as the symbol of empire to believe in herself. She had to be that extraordinary physical embodiment in order to manage to face the crowds. Basically, Cece had to make sure she looked the part she was expected to play. And of course, just like Princess Diana, Empress Cece was expected to look extraordinary. The public pressure was overwhelming. They're like tragic, glorious, fairies trapped in aspect. They can't wriggle free. But we can't call them vain. They're victims of our vanity for them. They're simply fulfilling their role. And poor old Cece had to give away the stars to break free. If indeed she ever did break free. And yet those stars and the crazy beauty regimes made Cece legendary. Today, she's still the face of Vienna. Her portraits stamped onto every souvenir biscuit tin and chocolate box in Austria. Without those extraordinary physical exertions and efforts, without that immense and pretty egotistical effort, would we be here today talking about her? Would her name still be in stars? Possibly not. So she's the one having the last laugh if she not. The thing is, Cece is not the only one laughing. We're now outside of Shunfran Palace and we're looking at the roof and-- Because these days, it's impossible for the Palace tour guides to tell Cece's story without mentioning Daniels. They've become inextricably intertwined. And Daniels become the second Shunfran legend. He jumped onto the premises. Him jumping onto the roof. Right under the roof. In fact, Daniels legend has spread far and wide across the pond, all the way to Nebraska, in fact. Back to where it all began. Did I forget about his name and forget about him? No. Officer Randy Eddie was the cop who arrested a young Daniel Blanchard when he was holed up in that crawl space in his mum's attic, having escaped from the Omaha police station. Every couple of years, his name would come up. Randy's retired from the force now. And these days, he works as a security manager for an art museum, actually. And when Randy read about Daniels parachute jump and learned how he stole the C.C. star, well, Randy wasn't taking any chances. So I kind of took that. I said, OK, let's make sure that this ain't going to happen here. So Randy's art museum upgraded their security. Daniel Blanchard, yes. He taught me and in my staff a lesson about the security of a museum and expensive artifacts, yes. Now on the face of it, that sounds really positive. It's just that we know how Daniel likes to wind up the cops. And I hate to break it to Randy. But I fear Daniels doing it again. Because Daniels lawyer, Danny Gunn, has something to say about the parachute heist. Well, that's one of the versions I've come to know. One of the versions. OK, hold that thought. Let's sit back to the Shurnbren palace for a second to check this out and rejoin Regina Neuhaus' tour. It seems highly questionable. Whether Gerald Blanchard was really able to parachute onto the roof of the palace, it's a slanted roof. And moreover, it would have made an awful lot of noise. You see, the Shurnbren palace at night isn't quite as empty as Daniel Blanchard claimed it was. Right under the roof, there are apartments where people live. They would have certainly noticed that something was not normal, that something was going on, and they would have checked. Well, Daniels is a slight man. But I'm guessing even a slight man dropping from a great height makes quite a thumb. I mean, you'd probably hear him over the sound of the TV, right? Moreover, the roof would have been damaged as well. I don't think that these old tiles would have survived to jump from the plane in a parachute. Without any damage, I really don't believe so. And the palace never reported any roof damage. It doesn't really add up as far as ways you could have gotten into that building. It seems to be the most risky. That's Nick, our US Special Forces veteran and a skydiving expert. He's consistently told us how dangerous and difficult Daniel's jump was. But he's never said it was impossible. The right skydiver could do this. It's possible. There's people out there that can do it. I'm sensing a buzz. But I wouldn't believe anything Mr. Blanchard says, especially this. It's quite the claim. But that still means it could be true, doesn't it? I think this is a highly unlikely thing to have happened. But what about the parachute? When he left the churnburn, Daniel says he stuffed his parachute in a garbage can inside the palace gardens. I would think it is more of an opportunist thing to build on someone's own legend. And it isn't really his modus operandi of being careful and making complex plans that are simple and safe to pull off these stuff. Come to think of it, the palace never reported finding a parachute stuffed in a garbage can. And according to Daniel's lawyer, Danny Gunn, there's a simple explanation for that. Well, the version that I know was less fanciful or less dramatic? OK. Time to spill the beans. The version where they isn't a parachute. The version that I know it had more to do with following along a group of people who are on a tour when someone might have noticed the diamond had taken an interest in it. Danny Gunn chooses his words carefully. But I think we can guess who that someone might have been. And it went back and got one from the gift shop that was a replica and followed another tour through and then just hid behind some curtains. Yeah. Basically, Daniel was playing hide and seek behind a curtain like a child, not quite so James Bond as a nighttime skydive. So he hid behind the curtains and just waited until everyone left and the museum shut for the night. And then arguably deactivated the alarm, switched it out, and then hid again until the morning when he joined another procession of people and headed out. With the jewel in his pocket, simple. Don't be too disappointed because someone else would be rejoicing over Daniel's trickery. Oh, it's easy. You would have loved the story. Our very own Empress Ceci. I really think she would have taken an interest in him. She liked unusual people. And the reason historian Regina Neuhauser thinks Ceci would have liked Daniel because it takes one to no one. Ceci was highly intelligent. She really was a very intelligent woman, which was not popular here at the court. And she would have enjoyed actions that were done in a cunning, chute, conniving way. She would have enjoyed that very much. It almost like their connection was written in the stars. Yeah, I think it's an amazing story, which fits very well into the myth of the whole story of the Ceci stars. That's the jeweler, Christoph Couchette, his ancestor made Ceci her original stars back in the 19th century. Ceci would very much enjoy this story because it's such an adventurous, such an amazing, unusual, exceptional story. She would have loved this. And Christoph thinks that for both Ceci and Daniel, the stars meant pretty much the same thing. I think Daniel Banschart was an amazing gift to talented thief. And like for Ceci, the diamond stars, it was such a symbol for the best of the best. And it was, I'm sure, the same thing for him. But what did Daniel actually steal? As we know, the original 27 stars from the Winterholtar painting are still missing. One of the stars of Empress Elizabeth. Okay, now I'm confused. As I told you, she had many, many, many, many more of these. So it was not original Ceci star, but it was in the possession of Ceci. So the star that Daniel hid behind some curtains to steal is a Ceci star after all. It's not one of the celebrated 27, but still a star commissioned by Ceci herself, a 10-pointed diamond star with a pearl in its center. But that brings us to another mystery. What happened to the original stars? We were very much like to know. So here you see this big book, all written in hand writing, with all the commissions we got. Made for his majesty. It's 2024, and we're in Christophe Khashert's exclusive jewelest shop in Vienna, upstairs in his office, where he has a huge and ancient leather-bound ledger on his desk. And inside its yellowing pages, other details of all the jewels and stars his ancestors ever made. And here you see one pin made for his majesty, the Emperor of Austria, Franz Josef. Of course, Christophe's book doesn't have any tracking information about where any of the gems are now. Today, the odd diamond star occasionally pops up at auction. Stars ordered by wannabe Ceci's. A aristocratic woman who were inspired by the winter-hulter painting. And sometimes, even stars gifted by Elizabeth herself appear for sale. We know she gave away her jewelry after her son Rudolf died. Recording to historian Regina Neuhauser, those original 27, while those stars Ceci kept. When she died, Franz Josef still had all the 27. But then at the turn of the new century, Rudolf's daughter, that Ceci and Franz Josef's granddaughter, got married. He gave her all the stars, the 27 stars, as a wedding gift. And before the actual wedding, these stars were actually exhibited. You see, the granddaughter, also called Elizabeth, married a prince. But it didn't work out. So she tried again. She got divorced and then she married a socialist leader. Basically, Ceci's granddaughter, Elizabeth fell in love not only with the socialist, but also with his ideology. She donated all her wealth, all her jewelry to the socialist party. So she sold everything and also the Ceci stars. And after that, we lost the traces of these stars. Ceci's treasured stars vanished into thinner. Well, I think it's a very sad story, actually. And what about Daniel Blanchard? What has happened to him since we last saw him heading for the cells? Is there a happy ending for Canada's most audacious thief? It's not a straightforward story. Daniel was granted daeporo in 2009. But that was revoked after he was found organizing the shoplifting ring in a large retail store. So he went back to prison. A place Daniel's lawyer said, Daniel found very tough. He had challenges dealing with people when he was in custody. Danny Gunn thinks other inmates took advantage of Daniel and his desire to fit in, to be liked. People would try and press him for money or try and press him for favors. I think because of his makeup, he had difficulty sorting his way through this. And that makes Danny Gunn often wonder if Daniel's brain is just wired a bit differently. Oh yeah. There's no doubt there. He was good with machines. But oftentimes when it came to people and how they worked, he'd end up in some challenges. When Daniel was caught, he never ratted on a single associate. Daniel was the only one of that international gang he went to jail. I guess that was also why I felt a degree of almost fondness for him because though he was trying to protect all of these people and work with him. I often wondered if they would feel the same way about him. Daniel was finally released from jail in 2012. He went and did his time and came out I think interested in moving forward in a different way. And for a good while, Daniel just got on quietly with his life, popping up once or twice as as a guest speaker. at police conferences in Canada, conferences about theft and robbery. And then he just disappeared off the radar. I thought, you know, he's got to be somewhere. Let me try to find him. Journalist Jennifer Bauer's Barney hunted far and wide. And then she stumbled across a Winnipeg newspaper article about a man who campaigned for the right to keep several cats. So, several cats are these African wild cats, but they're small. And so, people like to keep them as pets. But they're laws against them because they're these, you know, dangerous wild cats. So, this guy had been arrested in the Winnipeg Park or something walking his serval cat. There's a photo accompanying the article featuring a bare-chested man caressing a chunky spotted serval cat. And the man's tagged, "Rick White." But Jennifer isn't fooled. I recognised the picture and low and behold, there was Daniel Blanchard. From Kat's burglar to Kat's campaigner, and surely just a coincidence. But Daniel's cat? It's wearing something that really caught Jennifer's eye. He had pictures of this cat with like a diamond collar. Jennifer did a bit more digging and found some of Daniel's posts on social media. I know that he travelled to China a lot. I don't know what for, you know, some kind of business. Who knows? Who knows, indeed? Listen, I'm often asked if I think Dan Blanchard has turned over a new leaf. And my answer is simply this. Ben Hagueman's the detective with Project Kite, who unmasked Daniel. You can't take the stripes off a tiger and Dan's a tiger in the business that he is in. And whatever he's doing, I hope that he's not doing crime. Well, there was a blip. In 2017, Daniel was arrested for stealing electronics at a store in Burlington, Ontario. He got a six-month conditional sentence, narrowly avoiding jail. I wasn't necessarily stunned, but on the other hand, you know, I was a little disappointed, I think. But, you know, the fact of the matter is sometimes when people are going through stress and upset in their lives, you slip and you go back to what you know. But I haven't heard of his re-envolvement since that event. And that's because since then, it seems like Daniel's kept out of trouble. I hope he's having a good life. I hope he's having a good life as a taxpayer. Really? I'm sincere when I say that. Because the thing is, despite everything, Daniel's likable. Blanchard was, you know, this nice guy. He just happened to commit a lot of crimes. I do. I do. I do like him. He's quite charming. He, I think, cares about people and wants to be seen to be doing the right things. And that's unusual to say about somebody who has, you know, a series of convictions for significant enterprise crime. The nerdy little boy from Nebraska, who stole milk for his sister's cereal, has come full circle. And Daniel's always stayed loyal to everyone who's helped him. Yeah, he still calls me every once in a while. I'll get a call from Dan. Well, he last called me. He was in the Bahamas. And in fact, things also seem to be looking up for Daniel on the personal front. He's married. He has a kid. And he seems to be doing rather well. This isn't a fairytale. But perhaps Daniel's story does come close to having a happily ever after. He was a fascinating fellow. Fascinating. I've never met someone quite like Gerald Daniel Blanchard. And I don't think I ever will. And what about C.C. stars? Well, we can't give you the end of their story, because their stories not yet over. You see, the 27 originals are still out there somewhere, scattered who knows where. Yes, I do dream a really dream about finding original and C.C. star. Because those stars still haunt Jula Kristoff Koshet, the man whose ancestors first crafted C.C.'s dream. We are even thinking about starting a campaign with posters like Wanted with a big picture of the C.C. star and making a reward for the first star, which we will get back, which is for sure an original one. And Kristoff has one name in mind. The name of someone who's already, let's say, familiar with C.C. stars. I don't know if he's out of jail, but maybe I should contact him when he's out of jail. Are we thinking about the same person here? Because if we are, then yes, Daniel Blanchard is very much out of jail. He might be able to help us finding the real stars. We should think about commissioning him. I suspect that proposal might well appeal to Daniel. After all, he cherished that star he stole. And whether he jumped out of a plane or from behind the curtains, he went to extraordinary lengths to get it. You couldn't question his commitment. And I bet someone else would back the plan. A stunningly beautiful woman with long chestnut hair. A royal woman who, just like Daniel Blanchard, loved to challenge as much as she loved her stars. But if I've learned anything from C.C. and Daniel's stories, it's maybe that unchecked desire can be dangerous. That the blind pursuit of our dreams can take us to some very dark and difficult places. Perhaps some stars are best left out of reach. Because not everything that glitters is good for us. In the meantime, if you happen to see a slender, softly spoken Canadian man buying a diamond-studded parachute in a skydiving store, you'll know a whole new chapter of history has just begun. You've been listening to a most audacious heist, a Blanchard house production for Curious Cast, hosted by me, Seren Jones. It's written and produced by Emma Jane Kirby, research by Hannah Tava-Colorsade. Original music is by Daniel Lloyd Evans, Louis Nank-Manelle and Toby Matamong. Sound design and mix engineering by Toby Matamong and Louis Nank-Manelle. The part of Empress C.C. is played by Rianneau Needs. Poetry translations courtesy of Regina Neuhauser from the book, "Empress Elizabeth of Austria." The creative director of Blanchard House is Rosie Pye. The head of content at Blanchard House is Lawrence Grisel. For Blanchard House, the executive producers are Amika Chautino-Nolan and Lawrence Grisel. For Curious Cast, the executive producers are D'Leva Lasquez and Chris Duncomme. A most audacious heist is inspired by the book, Stealing Cece Star by Jennifer Bauer's Barney. My name is Mickey Fox. Friday, February 27th on a global. I'm Sheriff of Edgewater. For her, keeping the piece, cartels moving in. Meet every investigation. People are getting threats. It's close to home. At the end of the day, I'm responsible for this town. Secrets, loyalties and small town justice collide in a new hit drama. I'm a damn good sheriff. Sheriff Country returns Friday, February 27th on global. Dream on Stack TV.