STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.
Does a photo show a well-dressed French detective working the case of the Crown Jewels stolen from the Louvre? No, that's not true: The original poster later said it was a "fantasy version" she did not regret posting. There is no indication that this man is a detective working this case. A police car parked in a tunnel left enough space for the public to pass through single file. This photo, and one other photo from the same angle, shows the same group of policemen standing still while members of the public file past. The caption on both photos is the same, "Police officers block an access to the Louvre museum after a robbery Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025 in Paris."
The photo appeared in a post (archived here) published on X by @MsMelChen on Oct. 22, 2025. The caption begins:
Actual shot (not AI!) of a French detective working the case of the French Crown Jewels that were stolen from the Louvre in a brazen daylight robbery.
Somehow he looks like he's smoking even without a cigarette in his hand, but surely everything you know about life is screaming at you: this case is officially screwed!
This is the photo included with the post:
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from x.com/msmelchen/status/1981022488722047463.)
The caption continues:
To solve it, we need an unshaven, overweight, washed-out detective who's in the middle of divorce. A functioning alcoholic who the rest of the department hates.
Never gonna crack it with a detective who wears an actual fedora unironically.
Here's the follow-up post in which the person who started the comments about the dapper detective cracked wise about her hoax:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/MsMelChen/status/1981404074063835196.)
The photo of the well-dressed man appears in the editorial photos collection of the Associated Press, dated Oct. 19, 2025. The uncropped original photo has a wider format than the photo in the X post and shows three police officers in the foreground. On the right side of the photo is the man in the fedora, and directly behind him are at least three more people, civilians, who are walking single file through the passageway. Another photo of this scene shows a woman in a trenchcoat followed by two or three more people, also single file. Both of these photos have the same caption:
Police officers block an access to the Louvre museum after a robbery Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Captions are provided by our contributors.
Together the photos tell a story of policemen standing still who are guarding an open gate, and members of the public who have been made to file past the police car parked in the road. There are no clues in the photo caption or the two images that suggest this man is part of the investigation of the jewel heist.
Updates:
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2025-10-23T23:18:38Z 2025-10-23T23:18:38Z Updated to add the follow-up by the original poster, admitting it was "fake news."
