Bayou Bend intruders make quick escape by motorboat
Two people got into the mansion that houses the art collection of late philanthropist Ima Hogg through a basement grate and got out through the front door, making their escape in a waiting boat, police said.
Police said they believed the pair were trying to burglarize the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, a museum run by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The burglars remained on the run Wednesday after escaping from authorities through a storm drainage tunnel.
According to the Museum of Fine Arts, a man and a woman entered the building, located at 6003 Memorial Drive in River Oaks, around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday through a grate to a basement window on the north terrace of the house museum.
“Our burglar alarm sounded, our security guard responded, and the intruders escaped through the front door on the south facade,” the museum said in a statement. “Our security guard chased them through the woods. The intruders had a motorboat waiting on the bayou.”
Responding officers spotted the pair, said Lt. Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department. The two jumped into the motorboat in Buffalo Bayou and sped away.
Officers on the ground lost sight of the boat, Crowson said, so the department deployed a dive team into the bayou. With a spotlight, the divers located the pair on their boat hiding in a drainage culvert. The two people ran into the storm drainage tunnel, which runs beneath River Oaks, and officers pursued.
Police became concerned when they lost touch with the officers in the storm drain, but the officers were safely located. The intruders, however, escaped.
Authorities gave no description of the intruders. Investigators are following up to determine who owns the boat.
The Museum of Fine Arts confirmed Wednesday morning that no one was harmed and no works of art were damaged during the intrusion. The 14acre property — and former home of Ima Hogg — houses a collection of decorative art, paintings and furniture. More than 2,500 objects are displayed onsite throughout the 28 rooms and galleries, including furniture, paintings, sculpture, prints, ceramics, glass, metals and textiles.
A spokesperson for the museum added that “nothing appears to have been removed from the premises. We have examined camera footage, we are in contact with the police, and we are performing a physical inventory.”