On August 13, the FBI returned a stolen manuscript signed by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to the government of Mexico.
"This is an original manuscript page that was actually signed by Hernán Cortés on February 20, 1527," explained Special Agent Jessica Dittmer. She’s a member of the Bureau’s Art Crime Team and is currently embedded in FBI New York’s FBI-NYPD Joint Major Theft Task Force. The document, she said, "outlines the payment of pesos of common gold for expenses in preparation for discovery of the spice lands, so it really gives a lot of flavor as to the planning and preparation for unchartered territory back then."
The repatriation of this priceless cultural artifact—which authorities believe was stolen in the 1980s or 1990s—was the result of close collaboration between the FBI, the New York City Police Department, the Department of Justice, and the government of Mexico.
According to Dittmer, the document is historically significant because it contains a full accounting of the logistical and planning details related to Cortés' journey to what eventually became the territory of New Spain. New Spain stretched from present-day Washington State southeast through Louisiana and down through Latin America. “Pieces like this are considered protected cultural property and represent valuable moments in Mexico's history, so this is something that the Mexicans have in their archives for the purpose of understanding history better,” she said.
El Archivo General de la Nación—Mexico’s national archives—originally counted the repatriated manuscript among a collection of historical documents hand-signed by Cortés. But after microfilming the collection in October 1993 as part of an inventory process, the institution discovered that 15 pages of it had gone missing.
In 2024, the Mexican government requested the FBI Art Crime Team’s help in locating page 28 of the collection.
With the Mexican national archive's meticulous notes about the collection—even indicating which numbered pages went missing and the manner in which certain pages had been torn—investigators believed they could track it down through more traditional detective work.
"Det. Zeledon and I opened up an investigation to see if we couldn't actually just bring that document home," Dittmer recalled. "Rigel and I each look at things with a different perspective, a different set of teachings behind us—our legal classes and our backgrounds—and we're able to work together to figure out next steps in not only finding the document, but also ensuring it is one in the same, and determining who else we need to contact and what else we need to do."
Open-source research soon led them to believe the missing manuscript was likely located in the continental United States, eventually narrowing their search. The investigators then worked with FBI Atlanta and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to get the investigative and legal support needed to find the relevant records and track down the missing artifact.
"As a group, we all worked through additional logistical steps to ensure that all the stakeholders formerly and currently in possession of the manuscript page received all necessary information to prepare for our seizure of the document," Dittmer said. This included having these stakeholders sign away their claims to the document so the FBI could take legal possession of it, verify it, and eventually return it to its rightful owners.
It's thought the newly recovered document was stolen between 1985 and October 1993, Dittmer said, based on the tell-tale wax numbering that archivists used between 1985 and 1986. In this way, the same exacting details that helped the investigators find the document also helped them authenticate it.
Main Image: The front of the repatriated manuscript Photograph: FBI Boston