According to New York police officials, an art therapist at Long Island’s Brinkvale Psychiatric Hospital helped solve an infamous art heist that had stymied investigators for three decades.

In a statement issued Friday evening by Homicide Division Deputy Chief Eustacio Jean-Phillipe, the case famously known as “The Bloodsword Swindle” by local newspapers is now nearly closed. Brinkvale employee Zachary Taylor presented evidence and an “anecdotal confession” from the crime’s mastermind to police officials on Friday morning. Detectives with cold case expertise confirmed the information that afternoon, Jean-Phillipe said.

“This is a remarkable story of a young man who saw something no one else could,” Jean-Phillipe said in the statement. “He found meaning in strings, patterns and patches. It was an uncanny discovery.”

While Zachary Taylor declined to comment for this story, the NYPD’s statement revealed how the 25-year-old therapist unraveled an intriguing tale of thievery, double-crosses, and murder, all told through several patchwork quilts created by a 75-year-old Brinkvale patient.

The story concludes a 30-year mystery, providing closure to the most famous art heist in the city’s history. According to the police, the crime’s secrets were locked in the mind of Gertrude Spindler, a seemingly “cheerful,” if mentally ill, elderly woman. Spindler has been institutionalized at Brinkvale since 1996, after fatally poisoning her husband.

Lifelong New York residents may recall “The Bloodsword Swindle”: In 1978, the American Museum of Natural History hosted the lone American exhibition of the famous Chinese “Bloodsword,” so nicknamed for its death-dealing history and legendary “mystical” powers. The straight-bladed jian sword, a priceless artifact more than 2,000 years old, was discovered during the same 1965 dig which revealed the equally-famous Sword of Goujian in Heubi, China.

The museum received the sword with great fanfare in February of that year, using the popularity the film “Star Wars” in its advertising: “These real battles happened a long time ago, but in a country not too far away...”. The day prior to the exhibit’s debut, the Bloodsword -- and museum curator Reginald Willis -- vanished.

An international sword- and manhunt soon commenced, bringing American and Chinese law enforcement officials together in the first collaboration of its kind. During the ensuing three-year-long formal investigation, miscommunications within these organizations -- and the strained political relationship between the two nations -- confounded the case, leading one American FBI agent to comment in 1980: “I understand why [the Chinese government] is so upset. This is like a hundred of our Liberty Bells getting swiped. But I can’t see a happy ending to this investigation.”

But now, thanks to Brinkvale patient Spindler’s confession, critical -- if nigh-unbelievable -- details are now available. According to the report, Spindler, along with friends and fellow Manhattan residents Gladys Singer and Jacqueline King, conspired to seduce the museum’s curator using an “occult ritual.” The three women also made themselves “available” to Willis and convinced him to steal the sword, the statement said.

The Harvard-educated Willis did indeed swipe the relic and soon presented it to the trio. According to the document, Spindler murdered the man, and then turned the Bloodsword on her cohorts. It remains unknown why the women wanted the sword, or what Spindler did with it after killing her co-conspirators.

Remarkably, therapist Taylor deduced the location of the three buried bodies in West Nyack, as well as the final hiding spot of the Bloodsword, by gleaning clues stitched into the quilts Spindler created as part of her Brinkvale therapy. Police officials have not yet revealed how Taylor did this, or the secret location of the artifact. They have also not announced any conclusive evidence connecting Spindler to the crime, though they claim it exists.

While Taylor has declined to comment to any media about this discovery, Brinkvale Chief Administrator Theodore Peterson said he is proud of the therapist’s work.

“Zach Taylor is an exemplary employee, and embodies the very best of what Brinkvale Psychiatric can provide,” he said. “We’re thrilled to have him here, exploring the frontiers of mental health care.”