AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
Pedro, a teenager from Rambouillet, France, became an internet sensation after being photographed near the Louvre following a jewel heist. Dressed in a 1940s-inspired outfit, including a fedora he usually reserves for special occasions, he inadvertently appeared to be a mysterious detective at the scene.
Pedro, a Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot enthusiast, enjoyed watching the internet speculate about his identity. He enjoys dressing in a way that stands out and recognizes the power of a single image to create a story. Astonished by the viral attention, he briefly remained silent, letting the mystery surrounding the “fedora man” linger before revealing his identity.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
Quite the opposite. A fan of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot who lives with his parents and grandfather in Rambouillet, 30km (19 miles) from Paris, Pedro decided to let the mystery linger.
As theories swirled about the sharply dressed stranger in the “fedora man” shot – detective, insider, AI fake – he decided to stay silent and watch.
“I didn’t want to say immediately it was me,” he said. “With this photo there is a mystery, so you have to make it last.”
Pedro is a bright teenager who wandered, by accident, into a global story.
The image that made him famous was meant to document a crime scene. Three police officers lean on a silver car blocking a Louvre entrance, hours after thieves carried out a daylight raid on French crown jewels. To the right, a lone figure in a three-piece ensemble strides past – a flash of film noir in a modern-day manhunt.
Pedro understood why. “In the photo, I’m dressed more in the 1940s, and we are in 2025,” he said. “There is a contrast.”
Even some relatives and friends hesitated – until they spotted his mother in the background. Only then were they sure: the internet’s favourite fake detective was a real boy.
The real story was simple. Pedro, his mother and grandfather had come to visit the Louvre.
“We wanted to go to the Louvre but it was closed,” he said. “We didn’t know there was a heist.”
They asked officers why the gates were shut. Seconds later, AP photographer Thibault Camus, documenting the security cordon, caught Pedro midstride.
“When the picture was taken, I didn’t know,” Pedro said. “I was just passing through.”
Four days later, an acquaintance messaged: is that you?
“She told me there were 5 million views,” he said. “I was a bit surprised.”
Then his mother called to say he was in the New York Times. “It’s not every day,” he said. Cousins in Colombia, friends in Austria, family friends and classmates followed with screenshots and calls.
“People said, ‘You’ve become a star,’” he said. “I was astonished that just with one photo you can become viral in a few days.”
‘I have actually become a star’: Louvre heist mystery ‘fedora man’ uncovered – video
The look that jolted tens of millions is not a costume whipped up for a museum trip. Pedro began dressing this way less than a year ago, inspired by 20th-century history and black-and-white images of suited statesmen and fictional detectives.
“I like to be chic,” he said. “I go to school like this.”
And the hat? No, that’s its own ritual. The fedora is reserved for weekends, holidays and museum visits.
He understands why people projected a whole sleuth character onto him: improbable heist, improbable detective. He loves Poirot – “very elegant” – and likes the idea that an unusual crime calls for someone who looks unusual. “When something unusual happens, you don’t imagine a normal detective,” he said. “You imagine someone different.”
“Art and museums are living spaces,” she said. “Life without art is not life.”
For Pedro, art and imagery were part of everyday life. So when millions projected stories on to a single frame of him in a fedora beside armed police at the Louvre, he recognised the power of an image and let the myth breathe.
He stayed silent for several days, then switched his Instagram from private to public.
