The Lipinski violin Credit: Frank Almond

By of the

UPDATE: Stolen Stradivarius violin reportedly recovered in good condition. Latest details here.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the robbery of a priceless Stradivarius violin, but the instrument has not been found, police said Wednesday.

The three suspects — two men, ages 42 and 36, and a woman, 32 — were arrested Monday morning at their respective Milwaukee residences and remained in police custody Wednesday. One of the suspects has been linked to a prior art theft.

The violin, crafted in 1715 and known as the Lipinski Strad after a former owner, was stolen from Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Frank Almond during an armed robbery Jan. 27. Almond had played the instrument during a performance at Wisconsin Lutheran College.

The violin's case was found later that night on Milwaukee's north side. The getaway van, an older model maroon minivan, has not been located.

"We emphasize at this time that although we made arrests we have not yet recovered the violin," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said at a news conference Wednesday.

Flynn said he did not want to speculate, but when asked, he said there's "a good chance" the violin is still in Milwaukee. Investigators received information that pointed to the suspects and physical evidence that specifically linked one of them to the crime, he said.

"At this point we don't have any indication they were working for anyone but themselves," Flynn said.

A $100,000 reward has been offered for information that results in the safe return of the Lipinski Strad. The chief said the reward may have induced tipsters to provide information that led to the three arrests.

"(The violin) is not something that can be disposed of at some future date. It will never be valuable for a thief. It's only value is for a collector," Flynn said. "It's only valuable to a collector if it can be played. It can't be played (publicly) if it's known to be stolen."

The FBI is assisting Milwaukee police in the investigation.

"At this point, we're confident the subjects in custody are the subjects responsible," said G.B. Jones, acting special-agent-in-charge of the FBI's Milwaukee office.

The Milwaukee County district attorney's office is reviewing the case but has not yet issued charges. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel does not typically name suspects until they are charged.

One of the suspects in the violin heist was accused of stealing a $25,000 sculpture from a downtown Milwaukee art gallery in 1995 and then trying to sell the piece back to the gallery's owner four years later.

Stolen in 1995

The statue, "Woman with Fruit" by Nicolas Africano, was stolen from the Michael Lord Gallery in the Pfister Hotel on Nov. 7, 1995.

Four years later — almost to the day of the theft — a man called the gallery asking if Lord, the gallery owner, was interested in buying the sculpture. The man claimed he could buy the sculpture for Lord and would turn it over to him for a finder's fee, according to a criminal complaint.

Lord contacted Milwaukee police, who began working with him to recover the sculpture.

A detective posed as Lord and went to meet the man at his Milwaukee apartment, where detectives, and later Lord, authenticated the piece of art, records show.

The man tried to tell police that he bought the sculpture from a man in Madison, but the man's girlfriend gave police a different version of events.

She said the man got out of prison in September 1999 after serving time in an unrelated case and called her a month later to see if she would sell a sculpture for him, documents state. He told her that he planned the original theft but claimed his friends were the ones who actually stole the piece.

The man was sentenced in 2000 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to receiving stolen property.

'Grateful' to police

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the performance home of the violin, thanked Milwaukee police for their work on the case in a statement released Wednesday.

The symphony "is incredibly grateful to the Milwaukee Police Department for their expeditious and thorough work in investigating the theft of the Lipinski Stradivarius violin.

"It is our sincerest hope that the stolen Stradivarius is ultimately found so it may be enjoyed by the Milwaukee community for generations to come," the statement read.

Almond, in a Facebook posting Wednesday afternoon, said: "I'm told there will be a news conference this afternoon. Hoping for the best." Almond has not granted interviews since the robbery.

Almond began playing the Lipinski Strad publicly in 2008 when its owner offered to loan the instrument to him, a common practice in the music world.

Although various dollar amounts of the violin's valuation have been tossed about since its disappearance, its "fair replacement value for insurance purposes" is $5 million, according to a 2012 document released by an appraiser.

Stefan Hersh, a member of the Chicago firm Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins and a friend of the violinist, described Almond in a recent interview as "on the very cautious side" when it comes to security for the violin.

Police said early on that the crime was not random, and the suspects clearly targeted the violin.

Anyone with information on the vehicle or the robbery is asked to call Milwaukee police at (414) 935-7360. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at (414) 226-7838.