Jack Roland Murphy
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- For the San Diego writer, see Jack Murphy (sportswriter).
Jack Roland Murphy or Murph the Surf (born 1938 in Los Angeles, California) is a surfer and convicted murderer who is most famous for his role in the biggest jewel heist in American history at the American Museum of Natural History.
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[edit] Robbery
He was involved with a robbery on October 29, 1964, of the Star of India along with several other precious gems, including the Eagle Diamond and the de Long Ruby.
The thieves climbed in a second story level window at night. The window was in the same room as the jewels, almost above the jewels, and had been left open for ventilation at the American Museum of Natural History. Murphy had cased the museum earlier and discovered from a 17 year old visitor that security was lax to non-existant, the bugular alarm system was disconnected and not operational, and the window was left open all the time. The alarm wires in the jewel display case were disconnected and in plain sight. This was an open invitation to anyone with 20-20 eyesight. Murphy was considered a genius. The stones were valued at more than $400,000.
Jack Murphy was arrested two days later with two accomplices, Alan Kuhn and Roger Clark. They received a three-year sentence. The uninsured Star of Indiana was recovered in a Foot Locker Store in a Miami bus station. Most of the other gems were also recovered, except the Eagle Diamond.
[edit] Murder
In 1968 he was convicted of first-degree murder of a California secretary, one of two women whose bodies were found in Whiskey Creek near Hollywood, Florida, in 1967. He also was convicted of trying to rob a Miami Beach woman in 1968. He was sentenced to life in prison in Florida. Murphy was paroled from the Florida State Prison in 1986. Today, Murphy acts as an Evangelist style preacher visiting various prisons as a ‘messenger of God’ with the aim of helping rehabilitate other felons through religion.
[edit] Movie
- Murph the Surf (1975)
[edit] Also stolen
- Eagle Diamond (never recovered)
- de Long Ruby
