Retired Journalist Tracks Elusive Jewel Thief

Author Rena Pederson helps Friends of the Dallas Library celebrate Diamond anniversary

Rena Pederson’s The King of Diamonds: The Search for the Elusive Texas Jewel Thief recently made waves in local book clubs and reading groups, reviving interest in the true story of the brazen yet uncatchable cat burglar who targeted homes in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow in the 1950s and ’60s. 

Police of that time suddenly found “themselves called to Highland Park and Preston Hollow, and they didn’t know their way around,” Pederson said. “They had to hand-draw a map of those streets. That’s what made this case so special was that nobody has hit an area so compact for so long and not been caught.”

From her youth at the San Angelo Standard-Times in high school to her 16 years as VP and editorial page editor at The Dallas Morning News, Pederson’s research experience in journalism was the bedrock of her investigation of the elusive thief. 

“Fresh out of graduate school in 1970, I heard about this unusual jewel thief who was pillaging the wealthier areas of town,” she recalled, “Nobody could catch him — not the police, the FBI, Scotland Yard, Interpol.”

In 2015, after retiring from the Morning News and a teaching stint at SMU, she started researching the case in earnest.

“Interestingly, the first place I went was someplace typical detectives don’t go — the Dallas Public Library,” she said.

The thief made his name with the January 1959 burglary of remarried Preston Hollow oil widow Josephine Herbert Graf. Her prized diamonds disappeared while she slept after the couple had returned from the Jewel Ball in Fort Worth. 

“The police immediately knew this was somebody special,” Pederson noted. “It was the biggest jewel theft in Dallas history.”

Subsequent local luminary victims included oil magnate Clint Murchison and godmother of Dallas philanthropy Ruth Sharp Altshuler of Preston Hollow, heiress and philanthropist Margaret Hunt Hill of University Park, and philanthropist Barbara Varel of Highland Park.

“He came in while people were home, he hid in their closets, and sometimes their children were home,” Rena said. “That was very frightening to people.”

The “A Diamond Date” fundraiser for the Friends of the Dallas Library was held Oct. 15 at the Dallas Museum of Art featuring Pederson and her popular book on “Dallas’ greatest criminal.”

“It’s the kickoff of our diamond anniversary, so the title was a great tie-in,” Friends executive director Mary Wilonsky explained. “We literally had board members who were so excited, they ran over to Interabang Books and invited Rena to be our author. . . The book is incredible — the story behind it. It was just a perfect fit.”

“I was so grateful to the staff on the seventh floor, I sent them a box of chocolate chip cookies,” Rena chuckled, recalling the help she received with research and photos from the library. “They really went above and beyond the call of duty to try and be helpful.”