WEBVTT 1 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:34.320 Welcome back to the Pathway Chile. I'm Robin, I'm Jules, and I'm 2 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:40.240 Ashley. Let's dive right into this week's case. May twelfth, two thousand, 3 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:45.799 the South Pole, Antarctica. While working at the Almunston Scott South Pole 4 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:52.320 Station, thirty two year old Australian astrophysicist Rodney Marx becomes seriously ill before he 5 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:57.560 dies. Rodney's death is initially assumed to be natural causes, but when his 6 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:02.359 body is transported to New Zealand months later, an autopsy reveals that he died 7 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:07.439 from acute methanol poisoning. The New Zealand police attempt to launch an investigation, 8 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:12.840 but run into jurisdictional issues and Rodney's American based employers proved to be uncooperative. 9 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:19.959 A coroner's inquest fails to turn up any conclusive evidence to support Rodney's death being 10 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:25.560 a homicide, suicide, or accidental, so there's still no answers about how 11 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:30.920 he was poisoned. After that, the path went chilly. So this week, 12 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:34.400 for the very first time ever, we're going to be covering an unsolved 13 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:40.200 mystery which took place in Antarctica. The Unexplained two thousand deaths of Rodney Marx. 14 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:45.239 Today's victim was an astrophysicist from Australia who was assigned to a year long 15 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:49.799 stint working at a scientific research station in the South Pole. But after falling 16 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.719 ill one day, Rodney's condition gradually worsened until he died around thirty six hours 17 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:59.840 later. The freezing weather conditions made it impossible to fly Rodney's body back to 18 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.840 the mainland for nearly six months, and it was only then that an autopsy 19 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:07.159 revealed that his cause of death was methanol poisoning. But by this point, 20 00:02:07.479 --> 00:02:13.080 the forty nine other people who worked at the research station alongside Rodney had all 21 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:16.360 returned home and gone their separate ways. Since the New Zealand Police had handled 22 00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:21.840 the autopsy, they wanted to conduct a full scale investigation into Rodney's death. 23 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:27.479 But we're talking about an Australian citizen who died in Antarctica at a station controlled 24 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:31.520 by an independent agency of the United States government. Since this sort of situation 25 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:37.639 was pretty much unprecedented, you could only imagine the massive red tape and jurisdictional 26 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:42.360 issues. The media would refer to this story as the first South Pole murder, 27 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:46.800 but without a thorough investigation, it was impossible to determine if Rodney's death 28 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:50.319 was actually a murder, or if it could have been suicide or a tragic 29 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.800 accident, or even a prank gone horribly wrong. Rodney was known for being 30 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:59.400 heavy drinker, which provides the most logical explanation for how he could have ingested 31 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:04.240 the methanol, but whether it was because someone attempted to intentionally poison him is 32 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:07.960 still unclear. It's a pretty baffling mystery which has a number of potential theories 33 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:13.879 that we're going to explore. And despite the Antarctica setting, I solemnly swear 34 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:16.159 that we will not fall into the trap of making a bunch of bad Trail 35 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:21.919 went Cold or pathwent Chili puns. Oh domain promises. We can't keep Robin. 36 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.319 That's not fair to us. Okay, So I have a question, 37 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:30.319 what kind of research lab is he at? Uh, Well, discuss it 38 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:34.759 momentarily. But it's more of an astrophysical research lab where they want to look 39 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:38.639 at stuff that's in the sky and stuff that's taking place, and that's why 40 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:40.879 they go all the way to the South Pole. So this has nothing to 41 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:47.000 do with like industrial or mechanical research, right, which would explain why things 42 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:53.159 like window washer fluid or anti freeze or those kinds of things would be present 43 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:58.039 in a setting like that, which also can lead to methanol poisoning. Well, 44 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:01.759 he did have methanol there, that there are some substances that theoretically could 45 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:06.000 have been used to poison him. But whether it was like intentional murder or 46 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:12.680 he ingested it accidentally, we still don't know. But I know that when 47 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:15.879 I sent the script to Jules before we recorded. A lot of the time 48 00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:18.920 she isn't familiar with the cases we cover beforehand. But this one, you 49 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:24.199 said you were obsessed with this case, right. I really and truly am 50 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:29.680 obsessed with this case because there's so little information and you're left to connect the 51 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:31.920 dots. I know which way I follow, but I don't want to say 52 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.839 it yet because I want Ashley to draw her own conclusions. But it is 53 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:41.279 just one of the most frustrating cases that have ever come across. It is 54 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:46.279 like the plot of a horror movie. You're at this facility in Antarctica and 55 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:49.240 there's literally nobody there that can help you with this point in time. You 56 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:54.079 can't get an autopsy right away. You can have a proper investigation. There 57 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:57.240 could have been a killer on the loose and they could have all been goners 58 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:00.600 if it was a horror movie. But this was real life. Robin's going 59 00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:03.560 to tell you later on in the episode some crazy stories of things that have 60 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:10.360 gone down at research facilities like this, including one doctor that does her own 61 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:14.480 surgery on herself. Oh my gosh. It does seem really interesting, though. 62 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:17.160 You have this place where people are going to do research, but there's 63 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:23.839 so many mixed facets there. There's international researchers from all over the world there. 64 00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:27.160 Like you said, it's missing what you see in a typical city, 65 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:30.439 like I'm assuming there's not, you know, the law enforcement, the legal 66 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:34.639 system and those kinds of things. And you're waiting months to get that man's 67 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:40.040 body back to New Zealand so that they can do an autopsy. All those 68 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:42.839 things set up this to fail from the very beginning. Like you said, 69 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:46.199 Jules, who knows who could have been doing this if it is indeed a 70 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:51.279 poisoning of this man, and what could have happened to that person, were 71 00:05:51.319 --> 00:05:55.279 they still at that research lab, was anyone else hurt? I mean, 72 00:05:55.319 --> 00:06:01.839 it's just a very very unsettling situation. Story begins in Antarctica in two thousand 73 00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:08.240 and Our central figure is thirty two year old Rodney David Marx. Rodney was 74 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:13.040 originally born in DeLong, Australia, and while he would struggle with the mild 75 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:16.600 case of Turette syndrome, he proved to be a very bright child who started 76 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:23.199 doing crossword puzzles and using a resource at age seven. Rodney excelled in school, 77 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:28.319 as he first obtained a bachelor's degree in astronomy at the University of Melbourne 78 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:32.639 before earning a doctorate in physics at the University of New South Wales. He 79 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:38.920 sought a career in astrophysics and was particularly fascinated by the South Pole, which 80 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:43.480 he wrote his thesis on. Rodney considered it to be a great location for 81 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:48.079 astrophysical observation, and he traveled there on a two week radio astronomy research stint 82 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:53.920 in nineteen ninety four. Three years later, Rodney decided to return to the 83 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:58.439 South Pole for what would be a full one year long research stint as he 84 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:03.279 was assigned by the University of Time Chicago Centro for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica aka 85 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:10.120 KARA to work on their South Pole Infrared Explorer Project. The project took place 86 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:15.399 at the Ammonston Scott South Pole Station, a scientific research center located at the 87 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:19.120 southernmost point of the world, which is named after Roald Amonston and Robert F. 88 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:24.439 Scott, the first two explorers to ever reach the South Pole. The 89 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:30.560 station is run by the National Science Foundation aka the NSF, an independent agency 90 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:35.360 funded by the United States government. The NSF are responsible for all American scientific 91 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:41.800 activity in Antarctica, and back then they often subcontracted a lot of this work 92 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:46.839 to the Polar Services division of the Raytheon Technologies Corporation. Rodney was stationed there 93 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:53.480 from November nineteen ninety seven until November nineteen ninety eight and enjoyed the experience so 94 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:58.120 much that he decided to sign up for another year long stint on cars Antarctic 95 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:03.600 Submillimeter Telescope and Research Observatory Project. It would last from November nineteen ninety nine 96 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:09.680 until November two thousand and consist of such tasks as measuring ozone in the atmosphere 97 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:16.319 and capturing sub atomic particles and neutrinos from space. Rodney would work as the 98 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:22.079 project's winter over scientist, and one of his main responsibilities was coordinating experiments and 99 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:28.680 collecting data by operating the submillimeter telescope to observe radiation from gas clouds around the 100 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:33.039 star forming regions in space. Okay, so clearly this guy's brilliant because half 101 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:41.159 that stuff I couldn't understand, right, But it's really interesting because he has 102 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:45.000 this affinity for the South Pole. And this is not the first time that 103 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:48.440 he has said, I'm going to sacrifice everything I'm doing kind of mainland and 104 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:52.759 where I live and work and operate. I'm going to drop everything and go 105 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:00.240 for these week long, the becoming year long assignments to really pursue my love 106 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:03.639 of research and to be an explorer and to discover new things. And so 107 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:09.559 for this trip, which is his last trip to Antarctica. He dies halfway 108 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:13.759 through that year. And it makes me to stop and think, like, 109 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:20.120 you have someone who is so passionate, who was moving so many barriers and 110 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:26.000 trying to make scientific breakthroughs that very few people were probably specializing in and exploring, 111 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:30.200 and then he ends up debt. It's just so sad as he's pursuing 112 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.440 something he loves so much, his life's taken away from him. Yeah, 113 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:37.799 you pretty much have to be a tough cookie to spend an entire year in 114 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:41.919 Antarctica. It's a very arduous task, but it says a lot about Rodney 115 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:43.960 that he does at once and then automatically says, sign me up again. 116 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:48.159 I can't wait to do this all over. So he must have been really 117 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:50.679 passionate about what he was doing and really kind of liked the solitude of being 118 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:56.399 in this spot where you're thousands of miles from civilization with a select handful of 119 00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:01.279 people. But I think he just loved that environment. So the Edmondson Scott 120 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:05.360 Station was situated at a location which had six consecutive summer months of non stop 121 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:11.480 daylight followed by six consecutive winter months of non stop darkness. A crew of 122 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:15.279 two hundred and fifty people would work at the station during the summer season before 123 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:18.960 returning home, while a crew of fifty scientists, technicians, construction crew and 124 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.360 other personnel remained there during the winter season. Rodney was one of the fifty 125 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:28.480 who volunteered to stay all year round, and shortly after he arrived, he 126 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:33.320 became romantically involved with a thirty three year old maintenance specialist named Sonya Walter. 127 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:37.200 The couple hitted off almost immediately, and even performed together in a heavy metal 128 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:41.399 band called Fanny Pack and the Big Nancy Boys. While Sonia was only supposed 129 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:45.720 to work at the station during the summer months, she volunteered to extend or 130 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:48.799 stay there so she could remain with Rodney during his entire year long stint. 131 00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:54.360 They also decided to get engaged and planned to marry each other once they returned 132 00:10:54.360 --> 00:11:00.600 to the mainland. He literally goes to Antarctica and falls in love with someone 133 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:05.679 so quickly that every part of who he is performing in the epic Fanni Pack 134 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:11.679 Band and the Big Nancy Boys, and then also not just becoming romantically involved, 135 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:16.399 but you get engaged and you have plans to get married right after this 136 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:20.759 year long stint here in Antarctica together. In my head, the first thing 137 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:24.080 when you said he's getting romantically involved, I said, oh, this is 138 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.000 bad. It's going to be a breakup. She's going to tell someone she 139 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:31.120 feels threatened by him, and they go after him. But they're not in 140 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:35.360 a bad place. They're actually newly into each other, which very rarely is 141 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:39.360 when the problems begin in a relationship, and they have big plans when they 142 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:45.759 get home. So in my gut. I'm thinking, how joyful when typically 143 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:50.679 in investigations it is someone intimately involved with you. So tell me, do 144 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:54.600 we know more about this relationship or what Sonya may or may not have known 145 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:58.919 or had to do with Rodney's death. Sonia is someone who has become very 146 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:03.440 like tight lipped about the whole experience. She doesn't like to give interviews about 147 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:05.559 it. But at no point has she ever been considered a suspect or is 148 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:11.639 there any indication that this engagement had any connection to his death. But it 149 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:13.480 is pretty sad that they never made it to the mainland and got married, 150 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.000 because what a story that would be to tell for your lives, Like how 151 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:20.559 many couples are you going to know who met and got engaged. While they 152 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:24.639 were living together in Antarctica, a lot of Rodney's work took place inside the 153 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:30.879 station's remote observatory, which required him to make a daily one kilometer commute in 154 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:35.480 the freezing temperatures between the observatory and the main base. On May eleventh, 155 00:12:35.559 --> 00:12:41.240 while walking towards the base, Rodney started feeling ill, and over the next 156 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:46.159 twenty four hours his condition would keep worsening. While eating dinner in the galley, 157 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:50.000 was Sonia that night. Rodney told her that he wasn't feeling well and 158 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:54.240 was having trouble seeing clearly, so he went to bed early. At five 159 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:58.039 point thirty am on the morning of May twelfth, Rodney woke up with a 160 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.919 burning sensation in the pit of his stomach and started vomiting blood. Over the 161 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:05.840 course of the day, he would make three visits to the base's medical facility 162 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:11.679 and was checked out by the physician, doctor Robert Thompson. Rodney had a 163 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:15.960 reputation around the base for being a bit of a binge drinker and would sometimes 164 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:20.039 drink to mask the symptoms of his Tourette syndrome, so doctor Thompson initially wondered 165 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:24.120 if he was suffering from the effects of alcohol withdrawal, or perhaps even an 166 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:30.000 anxiety attack. Prior to his deployment to the South Pole, Rodney had been 167 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:35.240 required to complete a number of rigorous medical and psychological exams, and he easily 168 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:39.240 passed without any noticeable issues. By the time Rodney made a second visit to 169 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:43.360 doctor Thompson, he said he had trouble moving due to pains in his joints 170 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:48.320 and muscles, and had to wear sunglasses to protect his eyes. So he 171 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:52.879 was injected with a sedative. Since Thompson could not figure out what was wrong 172 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:58.480 with Rodney, he hoped to seek outside medical advice by using a satellite phone, 173 00:13:58.919 --> 00:14:01.240 but they would usually view photo signal for a large portion of the day. 174 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:05.840 The sedative only calmed down Rodney for a short time, and it wasn't 175 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:11.639 long before he started hyperventilating and returned to the medical facility with Sonya at his 176 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:16.559 side. This time, doctor Thompson injected Rodney with a powerful antipsychotic called hall 177 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:22.639 Doll, but Rodney soon started losing consciousness and going into cardiac arrest before his 178 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:28.000 heart stopped. The trauma team is summoned to assist him, but when all 179 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:33.080 attempts to resuscitate Rodney failed, he was officially pronounced dead at six forty five 180 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:39.960 PM. It's sad because it's almost as if people are making assumptions about Rodney 181 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:43.639 given the fact that one he does have turettes, which is often coupled with 182 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:48.840 things like OCD and high rates of anxiety and depression, and so because they 183 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:56.120 know him as having his own self medicating tools, when he's actually experiencing something 184 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:58.799 that's scaring him, you can tell that he's overwhelmed, and he doesn't feel 185 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:03.919 good, and these are symptoms he doesn't normally feel. His joints ache, 186 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:07.440 he can't keep his eyes open without sunglasses on because he's incredibly sensitive to the 187 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:11.480 light. His stomach's killing him. He's throwing up blood. To me, 188 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:18.039 he knows deep down inside something's wrong. You can tell Sonya's very concerned, 189 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:22.720 even though she knows his normal tools and coping mechanisms, and they start to 190 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:28.360 kind of calm him. I'm wondering in certain points, is that medicine also 191 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:33.759 not helping his heart stay strong? Is it leading or exacerbating the methanol poisoning 192 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:39.039 and ultimately speeding up his death. It's worrisome to me that because we didn't 193 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:43.600 know he might have ingested this poison at some point that down the road or 194 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:46.120 looking back, you don't say like, oh, my goodness, could our 195 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:50.039 medicines that we put in to try to help him also have exacerbated the issue. 196 00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:56.399 I think doctor Thompson basically doing triage because he knows there's something affecting Rodney, 197 00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:58.360 but he can't in point what it is. So I think that you're 198 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.720 taking a calculated risk at that point in time going, I don't know what 199 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:07.519 it is that is causing these symptoms, and there is a potential that the 200 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:11.120 medicine that I'm giving him could worsen these symptoms or even bring upon his death. 201 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:18.960 But doing nothing isn't an option type of a situation. So Rodney's death 202 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:22.759 took everyone at the base by complete shock, and it soon became apparent that 203 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.519 it would be impossible to transport his body back to the mainland for months. 204 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:30.840 During the South Pole's winter season, the bad weather is incredibly severe and temperatures 205 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:36.480 could dip below minus eighty degrees celsius. While it was possible for planes to 206 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:40.840 fly over the area and air drop supplies if necessary, landing was out of 207 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:45.759 the question as the temperatures could cause a plane's hydraulic fluids to freeze within minutes 208 00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:49.360 of touching down. So Rodney's co workers decided to build a wooden casket and 209 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:53.399 buried him at a temporary grave outside the base, as the coal would help 210 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:57.639 preserve his body until it could be picked up. In the meantime. Doctor 211 00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:02.720 Thompson told the other person at the base that Rodney's death was a result of 212 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:07.319 unknown but natural causes, possibly due to a heart attack or aneurysm, and 213 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:11.160 the National Science Foundation would issue a formal statement which pretty much stated the same 214 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:17.400 thing. The official report read quote there is no evidence to point to homicide, 215 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:22.640 accidental poisoning, environmental toxicity, or infection end quote. Well, by 216 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:26.440 the end of October, the summer season was finally beginning, so it was 217 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:30.000 now safe enough for a plane to land at the station and pick up Rodney's 218 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.000 body. It would be flown to christ Church, New Zealand, the official 219 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:38.240 base for American activities in Antarctica, and both the United States and Australia would 220 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:44.240 consent to a coroner's inquest being held there. However, shortly after an autopsy 221 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:48.039 was performed, a shocking announcement was made. Rodney's exact cause of death was 222 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:52.839 acute methanol poisoning. So you know that the people that are at the base 223 00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:57.759 and at this research lab, they hear the fact that this is not this 224 00:17:57.799 --> 00:18:00.599 is not just cardiac arrest, is not just his death may be due to 225 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:07.200 an aneurysm or the result of, you know, something that's unknown. Naturally, 226 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:14.319 there's a cute methanol poisoning, and so immediately everyone's going what happened with 227 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:18.319 who where could this have occurred? Here on this in this research lab. 228 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:22.720 Is the person still here that did this to him? It is wild to 229 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.480 think as a family that your loved one again is pursuing his dream up in 230 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:30.759 Antarctica. He's fallen in love and I'm sure communicated that when he gets home 231 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:34.440 he's going to build a life with his new fiance, and all of a 232 00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:41.519 sudden he passes away. His body is just buried outside with this you know, 233 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:45.640 makeshift coffin because it's so cold, his body's going to stay intact and 234 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:48.039 then good as it was, because if his autopsy had never been able to 235 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:52.559 be performed, he would have passed away with no one ever questioning were there 236 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:57.319 something? Was there something devious that or something that was criminal that actually happened 237 00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:02.119 to him. One of this sas there's been is that even if there was 238 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:07.000 suspicion that foul play had taken place, that the National Science Foundation would not 239 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:10.680 want to announce that for the other personnel station at the base, because they 240 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:12.880 think, oh my god, if it's been a homicide, there's a murderer 241 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:17.839 and we're trapped here with them and we can't do anything. So I wonder, 242 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:19.880 like even if they suspected that Rodney was a victim of foul play, 243 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:22.839 they were thinking themselves, well, there's nothing we can really do about it, 244 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:26.240 so let's not tell the rest of the staff until after he gets back 245 00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:30.960 to the mainland. And I'd love to know their security protocol because it is 246 00:19:32.119 --> 00:19:37.599 this very remote, fifty person team that's been volunteered to stay up there in 247 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:41.680 months where it is so cold a plane can't even come in and land to 248 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:47.759 pick up a deceased body. So if you're talking about a potential homicide in 249 00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:51.480 that lab, they did not have the qualified medical care that they needed for 250 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:56.599 an emergency situation like his. They didn't necessarily have a criminal investigations team or 251 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:02.000 anything that's there, and so those people so would be months out from being 252 00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:07.880 able to be flown in into help, so it's very overwhelming. Generally, 253 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:11.160 only a small amount of methanol can prove fatal, and it turned out that 254 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:17.359 around one hundred and fifty millilters was found in Rodney's bloodstream, so it seemed 255 00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:21.839 likely that he had somehow consumed or ingested it. The base had a large 256 00:20:21.880 --> 00:20:25.960 supply of methanol, and Rodney used it to clean the telescopes, but as 257 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:30.119 far as anyone knew, he had not done so since January, and all 258 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:34.240 the bottles of methanol were clearly marked and kept inside a lock cabinet. Curiously, 259 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:38.000 a pair of needle marks were found on Rodney's right arm, even though 260 00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:42.839 he was right handed. While trace amounts of alcohol were found in Rodney's system, 261 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:48.480 there was no sign of illegal drugs. In his official report, doctor 262 00:20:48.519 --> 00:20:52.640 Thompson mcclaid that while he was treating Rodney, he drew blood from his right 263 00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:56.680 arm and noticed that these needle marks were already there. Rodney apparently told him 264 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:00.519 that he had previous attempts at intervenous drug use, and did so at a 265 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:06.359 party he attended in christ Church shortly before arriving at the South Pole. However, 266 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:11.279 Rodney maintained that most of the other incidents involving intravenous drugs occurred in the 267 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:15.599 distant past. Doctor Thompson also said that when he asked Rodney about the last 268 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.720 time he drank alcohol, Rodney said he hadn't done so in nearly two days. 269 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:23.839 Well, yeah, here's another thing. So when they see that intravenous 270 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:29.480 mark, they see these needle marks in his arm the alarm bells were likely 271 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:34.000 going off saying did someone actually inject him with some type of methanol or methanol 272 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:38.440 compound? Right? And the reality is is, thank goodness, the doctor 273 00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:42.319 had actually addressed some of those things with Rodney. Hey, Rodney, let 274 00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:45.519 me take kind of the alcohol excuse off the books. When's the last time 275 00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:49.440 you drank several days ago? Okay, what are these needle marks on your 276 00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:52.640 arm? Those are from a party and I was being, you know, 277 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.799 irresponsible, and this is what I was doing. I was experimenting. But 278 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:00.799 yeah, he could explain away those marks. It seems if he has a 279 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:07.200 cute methanol poisoning, that there's a large amount of methanol that was consumed, 280 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:11.160 not this accidental kind of inhalation of it, that it was likely put into 281 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:15.960 a drink. Like the idea that is it anti freeze actually pretty sweet and 282 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:19.319 doesn't actually indicate that it's a chemical when you consume it in a beverage. 283 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:25.680 I think that it's smells it is sweet. But I think in modern times 284 00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:30.720 they've changed that somehow because pets were dying from ingestion of anti freeze. But 285 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:33.640 I think it used to be like almonds or something, Yeah, like a 286 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:37.759 nutty kind of sweet flavor. So there were certain drinks you could put it 287 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:42.400 in and people couldn't tell it masked, right, mass that flavor of chemicals. 288 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:45.799 But yeah, oh my goodness, Yeah, I need to know who 289 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:51.799 was he with in those times beforehand. Is it even possible that by cleaning 290 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:56.559 these telescopes he could have actually ingested it? It seems purposeful. That's a 291 00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:00.000 frustrating thing, is that we're not going to get too much information about Rodney's 292 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:03.880 exact whereabouts during that time period he may have been poisoned. As we're going 293 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:07.640 to talk about that speak one of the side effects of a delayed investigation that 294 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:10.920 no one was considering it as a homicide and here we are months later. 295 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:15.319 So trying to track Rodney's exact movements prior to his death would be nearly impossible. 296 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:19.640 And even though it seems purposeful, when you've got all of these individuals 297 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:26.160 there and nobody's questioned them, especially right away, and people aren't volunteering to 298 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:30.079 provide information. They're working for Raytheon. Is that what it is? Robin? 299 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:34.079 Yeah, some of these people, Yeah, you're working for big corporations. 300 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:37.519 They might want to just put a cap on it and not have any 301 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:41.960 bad publicity, so being tied to a murder could be potentially bad for them. 302 00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:48.000 So everybody is not really complying with what the Marx family wants, and 303 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:52.799 that's to share information so they can find out what happened to Rodney. And 304 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:56.839 it's just infuriating because we don't know from any of the information that we have 305 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:02.839 that he was exhibiting some signs of having like a mental health crisis or being 306 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:07.480 suicidal. And it looks so purposeful, like you just said, Ashley, 307 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:11.680 like somebody did this to him or he did this to himself. But I'm 308 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:15.960 more inclined to believe that somebody did this to him, but we've just got 309 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:21.480 no evidence to release support that either. So following the autopsy, Rodney's body 310 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:25.480 was returned to Australia so his family could finally give him a proper burial, 311 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:29.240 but they began to suspect that Rodney might have been the victim of foul play. 312 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:33.079 The investigation would be handled by the New Zealand Police and assigned to Detective 313 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:38.400 Senior Sergeant Grant Wormald. However, the problem was that this was an unprecedented 314 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:44.759 situation and there was a lot of confusion about who had official jurisdiction. In 315 00:24:44.839 --> 00:24:48.440 nineteen sixty one, the Antarctic Tree System was entered into force after it was 316 00:24:48.519 --> 00:24:53.079 signed and ratified by fifty three countries who all had an interest in setting up 317 00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:59.519 scientific research stations on the continent. Each of these countries could make territorial claims 318 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:03.400 if they desire, and the Amundsen Scott South Pole Station happened to be located 319 00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:07.960 within the Ross Dependency Region, which is officially claimed by New Zealand when the 320 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:14.119 treaty was signed. However, the United States government does not recognize New Zealand's 321 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:19.119 claim to territorial sovereignty or the application of New Zealand law to American citizens who 322 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:23.759 would have been operating in Antarctica. In their eyes, workers accused of a 323 00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:29.519 serious crime at a research station were subject to the laws and jurisdiction of their 324 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:34.720 home country, so while questioning and investigations involving American citizens attached to the case 325 00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:40.960 would have to be performed by the American authorities. And even though Rodney Marx 326 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:45.720 was an Australian citizen, the majority of the personnel occupying the Amundson Scott Station 327 00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:51.799 at the time of Rodney's death were American. So the problem here right, 328 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:55.880 Like you're saying, these are international forces that are coming together for this research 329 00:25:55.960 --> 00:25:59.759 lab, and in order to do so, they're creating treaties and saying, 330 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:03.279 look, there are obviously multiple interests that are represented here. And when we 331 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.759 explore kind of how we're going to handle different situations, one of the things 332 00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:11.680 they discuss is that in criminal cases, the home country is going to handle 333 00:26:12.279 --> 00:26:18.519 their own citizens. And unfortunately, when you have a man from Australia and 334 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:22.599 going, you know, his body's being transported back to New Zealand, and 335 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:26.960 you have this kind of international investigation that's delayed and late, to what extent 336 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:33.119 and what interest does the American government have of actually assisting in this investigation and 337 00:26:33.160 --> 00:26:37.440 how much how many resources are they actually going to give to this when it's 338 00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:41.240 been so delayed. There isn't a lot of evidence, and we're not very 339 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:45.759 clear as to what type of crimes actually occurred. I just don't see it 340 00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:48.160 being one of the priority cases that you're going to see the American government chasing 341 00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:53.440 on an international level, and added that there are no real suspects because if 342 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:57.119 someone poisoned Rodney, how do you determine who it was, and the American 343 00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:00.920 government could just say, well, none of the perks we know of her 344 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.519 suspects, so why should we have to question them. We have no evidence 345 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:07.400 that they committed a crime. Ll like, the best they can do is 346 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:08.880 say, hey, guys, did you have anything to do with the poisoning 347 00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:14.440 death of Rodney? And if they say no, and there's no eyewitnesses, 348 00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:21.079 there's no information, there's no forensic evidence, how would you proceed. The 349 00:27:21.079 --> 00:27:25.640 investigation was also hampered by the fact that Rodney's body had to remain at the 350 00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:30.640 station for six months before an autopsy could be performed, and by that point, 351 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:33.359 the other forty nine workers from the base had already gone their separate ways 352 00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:38.720 and returned to their respective homes. Since it was initially announced that Rodney's death 353 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:44.839 was a result of natural causes, his office and sleeping quarters were not preserved 354 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:49.240 for a potential homicide investigation and continued to be used, and while some of 355 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:53.799 his personal items were collected and returned to his family, other items were just 356 00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:59.519 thrown away. Over the course of the next six years, the investigation into 357 00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:03.640 Rodney's death would be conducted in secrecy until a coronial inquest was held in New 358 00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:08.880 Zealand in two thousand and six. After a series of hearings, the inquest 359 00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:15.519 was indefinitely adjourned and the case started receiving attention in the media. In September 360 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:18.279 two thousand and eight, a written report from the inquest was released publicly for 361 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:22.680 the first time, which confirmed that Rodney had died as a result of acute 362 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:29.119 methanol poisoning. However, the coroner could not find any evidence to conclusively determine 363 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:33.960 if Rodney's death was a homicide, suicide, or an accident. Well, 364 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:37.440 you're talking about six and eight years later. I mean. The problem is 365 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:40.519 is that, like we talk about with all of our cases, that original 366 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:45.799 investigation and making sure that you capture everything possible from the beginning is what you 367 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:48.839 have to do in a criminal case. And if you don't do that at 368 00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:53.359 the moment of the crime, then you don't have the ability to rewind time 369 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:59.079 and go back. In this case, it's near impossible. There was no 370 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:03.319 investigative team showing up to say, hey, we don't know what happened, 371 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:07.519 but let's treat this as a homicide, and we can always declare a suicide 372 00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:11.720 and accident or a natural death. Later that wasn't possible. Here. You 373 00:29:11.799 --> 00:29:15.839 had a doctor who didn't know what was happening, was trying to get outside 374 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:19.559 help and couldn't get through. You have a landlocked I mean this kind of 375 00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:26.440 locked in research lab where only fifty people are operating there waiting for months to 376 00:29:26.440 --> 00:29:30.480 come where external people can come in to their lab. And so, yeah, 377 00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:33.440 of course they went into his room and said, these are personal effects 378 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:37.240 his family might want. Let's save them. Let's clean the rest of this 379 00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:41.799 stuff out because he's deceased and we need to make sure we're moving forward trying 380 00:29:41.799 --> 00:29:47.240 to get his body home. And so what was not done cannot be fixed, 381 00:29:47.400 --> 00:29:51.640 especially when you're looking at the case months and then years, almost a 382 00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:55.680 decade later. I understand why they said, we really have to suspend this, 383 00:29:55.799 --> 00:30:00.240 like, I don't know where you would proceed from here. So the 384 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:04.960 inquest report made note of the lack of cooperation from both the National Science Foundation 385 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:11.960 and their contractor, the Raytheon Technologies Corporation, and Detective Senior Sergeant Wormald showed 386 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:18.359 no hesitation about publicly expressing his frustration with them. According to Wormald, the 387 00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.119 US Department of Justice was unable to perform official interviews with any of the workers 388 00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:29.400 from the Mundsen Scott station because the coronial inquest was considered a quote unquote informal 389 00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:33.799 inquiry, so the NSF and Raytheon had jurisdiction. The NSF told the New 390 00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:40.440 Zealand Police that they had already performed their own internal investigation and concluded that Rodney's 391 00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:44.839 death was the result of natural causes, but when Wormwoldt asked for an official 392 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:49.079 report of this investigation, he was informed that no such report existed. The 393 00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:53.160 NSF also failed to provide a list of the forty nine other employees who had 394 00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:56.640 been assigned to the base at the time of Rodney's death, and the New 395 00:30:56.759 --> 00:31:02.519 Zealand Police actually had to look up their names on the Internet. The NSF 396 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:06.920 did provide consent for the police to mail out questionnaires to these employees, on 397 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:11.200 the condition that they could screen the questions beforehand, and they also demanded that 398 00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:15.680 the employees be made aware that the questionnaires were strictly voluntary well after they were 399 00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:21.240 sent out, but the police only received a response from thirteen of the forty 400 00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:26.680 nine employees. Hey not a better return rate for mailout surveys now? Yes, 401 00:31:26.759 --> 00:31:30.599 jeez? Louise. Okay, so I'm twofold on this. There's kind 402 00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:36.839 of two different perspectives here. You've got to remember that really, in their 403 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:40.880 gut and in their heart, there was no part of this team that was 404 00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:45.480 actually located in Antarctica that thought there had been something nefarious going on. And 405 00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:48.559 so when you talk about what was done in the moment, I feel like 406 00:31:48.599 --> 00:31:53.079 they operate in a way of just genuinely preparing a body to be delivered back 407 00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:57.880 to a family after the unnatural death. And so you're asking the National Science 408 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:06.319 Foundation to then react to a quote potential criminal act, not knowing if it's 409 00:32:06.359 --> 00:32:12.839 possible Rodney had taken the methanol himself or what had happened. And so they're 410 00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:15.960 doing what any other corporation's going to do. That's asking people to do things 411 00:32:15.960 --> 00:32:22.160 like give up their life and comfortson research opportunities, and they want people to 412 00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:25.680 feel safe. This is a pr nightmare for them. It's also something where 413 00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:30.559 they aren't truly aware of where we went wrong, what could have happened. 414 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:35.799 Are we in some way responsible? So in one way, I do understand 415 00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:39.400 why there's kind of this resistance or kind of fear to actively participate and at 416 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:45.200 least trying to do what's legally best for the company, because I think they're 417 00:32:45.240 --> 00:32:50.079 equally as confused as everyone listening to it right now, like what happened. 418 00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:52.880 We don't know what happened. So to say, oh, we're just going 419 00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:55.720 to sit here and say listen, there's been a homicide and here's what we're 420 00:32:55.720 --> 00:32:59.920 going to do. We're going to try to go back in time and figure 421 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:02.559 about what happened. I just don't know how they were going to make progress. 422 00:33:02.599 --> 00:33:07.000 So I think that might have been this pr stunt to say, legally, 423 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:10.200 we're going to protect ourselves and if you can find information, that would 424 00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:13.920 be great. If you can't, I don't know what to tell you. 425 00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:17.160 It's really scary that they didn't know who was on their own base and in 426 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:21.640 their own research lab, because then it makes me feel like no one's safe 427 00:33:21.640 --> 00:33:24.640 there. If I didn't come home, does NSF not know where I was 428 00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:29.519 located? So those things make me really frustrated for everyone who was on that 429 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:32.319 base. If you're concerned about what happened to Rodney or not concerned about what 430 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:37.720 happened to Rodney, that's not okay ethically, But I understand that kind of 431 00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:40.880 legal mindset, but it almost seems like they weren't concerned about anybody who was 432 00:33:40.920 --> 00:33:46.559 located in that research lab. I love listening to you talk about institutions and 433 00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:52.119 corporations. I knew this part would be a really good Ashley part, because 434 00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:55.519 you've always got really great insights as far as that goes, because of your 435 00:33:55.559 --> 00:34:00.960 expertise and your own personal experience. And it looks like here that they're caring 436 00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:07.239 more about protecting the corporation or the foundation rather than protecting the individuals that are 437 00:34:07.280 --> 00:34:10.719 working for it. Yeah. Absolutely, I think they're saying, prove it 438 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:14.800 to me, you show me what happened, and then we'll open ourselves up 439 00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:16.880 right until you can prove this as a homicide, and that we need to 440 00:34:16.920 --> 00:34:20.920 react to that. We're going to try to pretend like it was not a 441 00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:23.519 homicide or that we're not highly alarmed, so that no one looking into our 442 00:34:23.559 --> 00:34:29.440 program and the many opportunities we need fulfilled is going to run in a different 443 00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:32.199 direction. Yeah. I think that if this has been a crime, that 444 00:34:32.239 --> 00:34:37.159 it was committed on American soil, and the NSF pretty much told the American 445 00:34:37.239 --> 00:34:39.320 law enforcement that, Yet we did our own internal investigation. We don't have 446 00:34:39.320 --> 00:34:44.119 any documentation, but just take our word for it. It probably wouldn't fly. 447 00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:47.320 But because they're dealing with a police in an entirely different continent in New 448 00:34:47.400 --> 00:34:53.199 Zealand, they was really nothing the New Zealand Police could do. Wormold was 449 00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:59.639 most frustrated by his inability to track down the base physician doctor Robert Thompson. 450 00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:05.039 Thompson possessed a machine called an ecticm, a device which can measure a patient's 451 00:35:05.079 --> 00:35:08.920 blood chemistry, but it was never used on Rodney before or after his death. 452 00:35:09.559 --> 00:35:14.960 Thompson's story was that the ectaicem's lithium battery had died, which meant that 453 00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.400 the machine had to be recalibrated every time it was turned on, a process 454 00:35:19.400 --> 00:35:23.119 which took between eight to ten hours. Thompson never made any attempt to fix 455 00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:28.320 it, but if the ectaicem had been functional and used on Rodney when he 456 00:35:28.360 --> 00:35:32.440 first became ill, it might have detected the methanol poisoning and potentially saved his 457 00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:37.320 life. Unfortunately, since doctor Thompson could not be found, he was never 458 00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:42.960 formally questioned by the New Zealand Police or did not provide any testimony at the 459 00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:50.199 inquest. It was also reported that Wormwold's numerous inquiries created diplomatic heat between the 460 00:35:50.280 --> 00:35:54.000 United States and New Zealand. At one point, the US State Department reportedly 461 00:35:54.039 --> 00:36:00.280 contacted New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to question why Wormwold had so much perseverance 462 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:06.000 on this case. When asked for an opinion about Rodney's death, worm Old 463 00:36:06.039 --> 00:36:10.440 stated, quote, in my view, it's most likely marx ingested the methodol 464 00:36:10.599 --> 00:36:17.159 unknowingly end quote. Here's the problems here is that he goes in at five 465 00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:20.880 point thirty in the morning, and I believe it's six forty five at night 466 00:36:20.920 --> 00:36:25.679 when he passes away after multiple interventions trying to offer him a sedative and different 467 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:30.840 kinds of things to calm his body and his nerves. But this machine that 468 00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:32.039 would take eight to ten hours. I mean, like, yes, he 469 00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:36.440 had time to use it, but you have to be keyed off that you 470 00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:39.760 need to use it. So remember, he was under the impression that he's 471 00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:45.519 talking to this guy who's sick, like almost presenting with a virus flu situation 472 00:36:45.639 --> 00:36:51.920 where his body's aching so bad, he's throwing up his mom eyes are really 473 00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:53.679 sensitive, like he's having a migraine or a panic attack or these kinds of 474 00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:59.880 things. So when a doctor thinks they know what's happening, they're going to 475 00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:04.639 react in a way that treats what they think is happening. Remember, he 476 00:37:04.679 --> 00:37:07.679 thinks he's either having withdraws from alcohol or he thinks that he is having a 477 00:37:07.719 --> 00:37:15.320 panic attack, And although he's presenting signs that he's also sick, it doesn't 478 00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:20.199 really like key off that we're going to have a murder on in this lab, 479 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:23.800 that we're going to have somebody who's ingested poison, Because if I had 480 00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:27.159 ingested poison, like the hope is, oh, man, I'm at this 481 00:37:27.239 --> 00:37:30.920 chemical lab and this poison I ingested it. I need help, And you 482 00:37:30.920 --> 00:37:37.000 could articulate that he unknowingly likely ingested this, doesn't understand himself what's going on, 483 00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:40.320 and the doctor doesn't assume he needs to do this blood work up on 484 00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:45.199 him. So could he have charged this machine? Absolutely? Did he know 485 00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:51.599 he needed to charge the machine? Probably not, because again he's kind of 486 00:37:51.679 --> 00:37:55.360 defaulting too. Ah, we know Rodney has problems. He struggles with Turett's 487 00:37:55.360 --> 00:38:00.760 at a very high end intellectual level, and so in order to cope with 488 00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:06.719 that and present like his peers in the research lab. He drinks a lot, 489 00:38:06.920 --> 00:38:10.079 and he also struggled with anxiety and depression, likely related to Tourette's, 490 00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:15.159 and so he's self medicating. I don't think that this doctor had a reason 491 00:38:15.159 --> 00:38:19.840 to have his interest peaked towards a potential homicide. And again, I think 492 00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:23.159 that's why everyone said it's fine that we have to wait months to get somebody 493 00:38:23.159 --> 00:38:28.679 here, because this is a natural death that occurred in a tragic way. 494 00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:31.960 No part of him thought, oh, maybe there's methanol poisoning. That's just 495 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:37.639 not a common reaction or outcome that I think he was trained to look for. 496 00:38:37.960 --> 00:38:42.639 I think the criticism is if he had tried to charge the machine at 497 00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:45.679 that point after Ronnie got sick, it probably would have been too late to 498 00:38:45.719 --> 00:38:49.039 save his life. I think they were just criticizing him because I guess it 499 00:38:49.079 --> 00:38:53.440 was his job to perform maintenance on it and then probably like recalibrate it before 500 00:38:53.559 --> 00:38:55.960 Rodney gets sick. But he just kind of left it to the side, 501 00:38:57.079 --> 00:39:00.239 and I'm not sure if he would have suspected it was poisoning, but have 502 00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:04.599 been useful at measuring Rodney's blood chemistry and probably would have provided further insight into 503 00:39:04.599 --> 00:39:07.400 what happened to him, but unfortunately it just wasn't available at that time, 504 00:39:08.599 --> 00:39:13.039 And it seems kind of preposterous to me, like, I'm sure you probably 505 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:17.320 both thought the same thing. The coronial inquest said, there's no evidence of 506 00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:24.639 accident, suicide or murder, but it seems pretty unlikely that if you were 507 00:39:24.679 --> 00:39:29.360 going to end your own life and then you decided, WHOA, I don't 508 00:39:29.400 --> 00:39:31.960 want to do this, but you'd ingested methanol in order to do so, 509 00:39:32.599 --> 00:39:37.400 you would tell the doctor what you'd taken so that it could be remedied. 510 00:39:37.719 --> 00:39:42.559 You wouldn't try to end your own life take it, decide that you want 511 00:39:42.599 --> 00:39:47.119 to live, and then not disclose the steps that you had taken and the 512 00:39:47.159 --> 00:39:52.880 substance you ingested, because I'm sure as a scientist he knows that there is 513 00:39:52.360 --> 00:39:57.679 likely a remedy, but you need to know what you're dealing with, oh 514 00:39:57.719 --> 00:40:00.119 exactly. And if he had accidentally inst and went, oh my god, 515 00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:02.880 I'm sick, Oh my gosh, maybe it was the method all that I 516 00:40:02.920 --> 00:40:07.199 was cleaning stuff with, he also would have articulated that. So whether it 517 00:40:07.239 --> 00:40:12.039 was intentional or accidental ingestion, if it was his will, that that was 518 00:40:12.119 --> 00:40:15.639 what happened, he would have articulated that when he's begging for help at the 519 00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:19.840 doctor's. It does lend itself to say, at the level, at an 520 00:40:19.880 --> 00:40:22.960 acute level, that took his life. Who did this to him? I 521 00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:29.239 mean, it really does eliminate anything but someone targeting him or even just being 522 00:40:29.280 --> 00:40:32.280 I mean, you've seen where poisonings aren't always directed towards somebody. It's just 523 00:40:32.280 --> 00:40:37.519 someone who wants to take a life and they poison whatever's convenient for them. 524 00:40:37.519 --> 00:40:40.039 But it feels like this would be with only fifty people at that lab, 525 00:40:40.119 --> 00:40:45.000 that someone wanted Rodney gone, maybe someone competing for a job, maybe somebody 526 00:40:45.039 --> 00:40:49.119 who felt threatened by him, maybe someone who was interested in the fiance. 527 00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:55.280 Weren't there rumors about that Robin that there was somebody who was into his fiance 528 00:40:55.719 --> 00:40:59.920 and that there could have been some love rival. Well, I know that's 529 00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:02.760 been proposed as a potential theory, but they haven't really pointed at anyone in 530 00:41:02.760 --> 00:41:07.280 particular. Like, I mean, maybe that did happen, but because they 531 00:41:07.280 --> 00:41:10.079 have spoken to so few of the people who were stationed there that maybe that 532 00:41:10.159 --> 00:41:15.000 information has not gotten out. But it's certainly possible because if someone was jealous 533 00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:20.280 and hated the idea of having to spend an entire winter for with Rodney and 534 00:41:20.320 --> 00:41:22.119 Sonya while they were expressing their love to each other. I could see someone 535 00:41:22.119 --> 00:41:27.679 having a motive to poison him, but they've just never found anyone who showed 536 00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:31.400 like any open interest towards her. And in a situation like you know, 537 00:41:31.519 --> 00:41:37.599 six months of extreme light and then six months of dark, people will do 538 00:41:37.719 --> 00:41:42.119 things that are outside of the norm, and that's why they have to do. 539 00:41:42.280 --> 00:41:45.519 Like you know, we mentioned the heavy psychological screenings before going into an 540 00:41:45.599 --> 00:41:51.760 environment such as this, so as we talked about. The investigation did not 541 00:41:51.800 --> 00:41:54.719 turn up any evidence that Rodney was suicidal, as he enjoyed his work, 542 00:41:54.800 --> 00:41:59.519 had no financial problems, and of course he had recently fallen in love and 543 00:41:59.559 --> 00:42:04.800 gotten engage to Sonia Walter. Furthermore, the fact that Rodney kept visiting the 544 00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:08.480 base's medical facility when he became ill seemed to dismiss the possibility that he had 545 00:42:08.519 --> 00:42:13.320 any intention of taking his own life. But on the other hand, since 546 00:42:13.440 --> 00:42:16.239 Rodney was a very well liked person at the base, the investigation failed to 547 00:42:16.280 --> 00:42:21.440 turn up any potential suspects who might have had a motive to intentionally poison him 548 00:42:21.679 --> 00:42:25.280 by slipping methanol into one of his drinks. However, given Rodney's reputation as 549 00:42:25.280 --> 00:42:30.239 a binge drinker, the possibility was also explored that he could have drank some 550 00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:35.039 methanol for recreational use. Another theory was that he could have accidentally mixed it 551 00:42:35.119 --> 00:42:38.400 up with an alcoholic beverage, as methanol has a similar taste to vodka. 552 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:44.760 Indeed, Rodney was known for having a messy workspace, as nearly twenty empty 553 00:42:44.800 --> 00:42:49.320 bottles of both alcohol and lab agents were found on top of his desk after 554 00:42:49.360 --> 00:42:52.960 his death. Okay, but remember he was pretty open with the fact that, 555 00:42:53.079 --> 00:42:57.960 yes, I've engaged in recreational drugs. I shot up in a christ 556 00:42:58.079 --> 00:43:01.920 church over in New Zealand. I also drink, but it was been two 557 00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:07.199 days since I drank. If he is scared of his health and he thinks 558 00:43:07.199 --> 00:43:10.760 something could have happened to him, like Jules said, he's going to share 559 00:43:10.800 --> 00:43:15.039 that information. Hey, listen, I'm working with this chemical and I had 560 00:43:15.079 --> 00:43:21.199 this drink, and what if this happened. I just don't think that if 561 00:43:21.199 --> 00:43:25.039 he had any knowledge or any intent, like people drink mouthwashed to get drunk, 562 00:43:25.119 --> 00:43:30.639 right or they'll consume things that actually aren't beverages to get that high. 563 00:43:30.679 --> 00:43:34.480 And if that's something he was doing, he had never been ashamed to tell 564 00:43:34.480 --> 00:43:37.599 the truth to the doctor before, and he was being transparent in the moment 565 00:43:38.199 --> 00:43:42.280 with things that were less than flattering. So why would he hide that. 566 00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:49.119 I'm about to tell you a way that this could happen that wouldn't involve Rodney 567 00:43:49.159 --> 00:43:53.639 failing to disclose that. Well, tell me, okay. So yet another 568 00:43:53.760 --> 00:43:59.679 interesting theory was provided by Harry Maher, who worked as the Health and Safety 569 00:43:59.679 --> 00:44:04.400 office for the Polar Services and was one of the few NSF employees who was 570 00:44:04.440 --> 00:44:08.960 willing to testify at the inquest. According to mahar Rodney had purchased what he 571 00:44:09.079 --> 00:44:14.639 described as an unusual shaped bottle of liquor from New Zealand, which had a 572 00:44:14.679 --> 00:44:17.000 picture of a shrimp on the label, as well as writing which may have 573 00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:22.679 been Portuguese. Some of the employees who answered the New Zealand's police questionnaires confirmed 574 00:44:22.719 --> 00:44:27.679 having seen this bottle of liquor, and it was apparently among the empty bottles 575 00:44:27.960 --> 00:44:32.320 found on Rodney's desk following his death. When Men's Journal published an extensive article 576 00:44:32.360 --> 00:44:37.440 about this case in two thousand and nine, an anonymous co worker from the 577 00:44:37.480 --> 00:44:43.480 base sent them an email proposing a potential scenario where Rodney unknowingly purchased some tainted 578 00:44:43.519 --> 00:44:47.320 liquor which fatally poisoned him. However, since the bottle was likely thrown out 579 00:44:47.360 --> 00:44:52.079 before it could be tested, the theory was nothing more than speculation. Even 580 00:44:52.119 --> 00:44:58.400 though the New Zealand Police were unable to uncover any conclusive answers about Rodney's death, 581 00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:01.920 the Marx family still publicly thanked them for their efforts. They did not 582 00:45:02.079 --> 00:45:06.920 believe that the police were ut fault and were disappointed, but neither the NSF 583 00:45:07.079 --> 00:45:12.639 or Raytheon made any attempt to contact them. The family suspected that Rodney's case 584 00:45:12.760 --> 00:45:16.280 was just not a high priority for the American authorities since he was an Australian 585 00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:22.840 citizen. Rodney's father, Paul Marx, had expressed his skepticism about receiving any 586 00:45:22.840 --> 00:45:27.519 closure, stating quote, after so long, it's probably impossible to ever know 587 00:45:27.599 --> 00:45:31.360 what happened or if he died by sinister means or accident. That's something we 588 00:45:31.440 --> 00:45:37.000 have to live with end quote. The Ammonson Scott South Pole Station erected a 589 00:45:37.039 --> 00:45:43.360 memorial plaque for Rodney and an eight thousand, five hundred foot square plaque for 590 00:45:43.480 --> 00:45:49.480 Rodney and an eighty five hundred foot mountain in Antarctica's Worster Range would be named 591 00:45:49.559 --> 00:45:53.159 mount Marks in his honor. But after twenty years, the actual circumstances of 592 00:45:53.199 --> 00:45:58.840 how Rodney Barks died are still unknown, so I guess you could say the 593 00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:05.559 path went chilling. Bless their hearts. I feel so sorry for the family 594 00:46:05.639 --> 00:46:09.920 who's saying we were getting news that our son was not just getting these opportunities 595 00:46:09.920 --> 00:46:14.480 of a lifetime and is making us so proud by being this premier researcher, 596 00:46:14.519 --> 00:46:17.039 and you know he is. He's being brave and being one of fifty people 597 00:46:17.079 --> 00:46:21.719 who says, I'll stay in Antarctica for another year. I'm hanging out here 598 00:46:21.760 --> 00:46:25.880 all year with fifty people. How elite and magical. And then he's writing 599 00:46:25.920 --> 00:46:30.039 home and saying, it's not just my career, guys, this is also 600 00:46:30.119 --> 00:46:32.360 my life. I fell in love, I'm coming home, I'm getting married. 601 00:46:32.679 --> 00:46:37.079 So they were anticipating a son and daughter in law coming home from that 602 00:46:37.239 --> 00:46:44.400 trip and celebrating career achievements, the growth of a new love and family, 603 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:47.159 and then all of a sudden their son dies, which is tragic enough, 604 00:46:47.559 --> 00:46:52.639 but they're like everybody else in this scene that as the months unfold and then 605 00:46:52.719 --> 00:46:55.800 they get his body home, they're thinking, our Sun died to natural causes. 606 00:46:55.880 --> 00:46:59.440 We get to have this burial for him and put him to rest. 607 00:47:00.119 --> 00:47:05.440 Tragic loss of a natural death. And then you put in the component that 608 00:47:05.480 --> 00:47:12.239 it's likely a homicide or a poisoning. It's overwhelming to then shift the grief 609 00:47:12.360 --> 00:47:16.039 process and restart the narrative trying to grieve a murder of your son, whether 610 00:47:16.079 --> 00:47:21.840 it is tainted liquor like some people have purported, or whether it's an intentional 611 00:47:21.920 --> 00:47:27.000 murder. It's almost reminding me of like a they're saying the tailan all murders 612 00:47:27.079 --> 00:47:30.320 or something where someone just went in, took a bottle of liquor, poisoned 613 00:47:30.320 --> 00:47:32.639 it, and stuck it back on a shelf, is what one of the 614 00:47:32.639 --> 00:47:38.320 theories is. I feel like it's more probable that he was targeted because did 615 00:47:38.360 --> 00:47:43.199 he not share any of that liquor with someone else? Did he not consume 616 00:47:43.400 --> 00:47:46.639 any of that liquor before he started to get sick? Like was this not 617 00:47:46.760 --> 00:47:51.480 something he had drank prior? Because he had been there for six months. 618 00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:57.719 So at that point, you're saying he saved that shrimp labeled liquor for months 619 00:47:57.800 --> 00:48:00.119 before he tapped into it, and that first time he enjoyed it, did 620 00:48:00.159 --> 00:48:04.519 he get sick? It seems so sketchy. That's the thing is, we 621 00:48:04.599 --> 00:48:07.719 just don't know when he first tried it. Because none of the witnesses we 622 00:48:07.719 --> 00:48:12.679 were interviewed, we're able to confirm that. I would be really interested who 623 00:48:12.679 --> 00:48:16.079 the anonymous coworker was, who sent the email, who posited this theory. 624 00:48:16.960 --> 00:48:20.880 It makes me wonder why you wanted to remain anonymous, Like maybe he felt 625 00:48:20.920 --> 00:48:24.719 that it would risk his career if he speaked out about about anything involving the 626 00:48:24.800 --> 00:48:29.000 NSF or rathion or something. I don't think he felt that his life would 627 00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:31.760 be threatened, but I'm sure he felt his employees were not appreciate him providing 628 00:48:31.800 --> 00:48:37.159 information to the press. That's one side of the coin. The other side 629 00:48:37.239 --> 00:48:38.880 is exactly he might have been the one who did it, and he's trying 630 00:48:38.880 --> 00:48:42.480 to like, you know, put a red airring out there, some misdirection, 631 00:48:42.639 --> 00:48:45.320 Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah, Or what if he's the one 632 00:48:45.320 --> 00:48:49.000 who actually poisoned the liquor and he's like hey, hand hint, there could 633 00:48:49.000 --> 00:48:52.280 have been some poisoned liquor there. You know, he could have also been 634 00:48:52.320 --> 00:48:57.199 the one to actually taint that liquor. And again, I think the person 635 00:48:57.199 --> 00:49:00.159 who anonymously sends that unfortunately knows if they're trying to do the right thing, 636 00:49:00.239 --> 00:49:05.840 that they can't go back and retest evidence. And they also aren't going to 637 00:49:05.880 --> 00:49:08.480 really be able to pen anything on you if you are the person who did 638 00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:15.039 it. So this episode is truly a first for the Pathway Chile, as 639 00:49:15.039 --> 00:49:17.800 it's not often that you literally get to cover a cold case from one of 640 00:49:17.840 --> 00:49:22.840 the coldest places on Earth. When this story started getting media coverage, it 641 00:49:22.880 --> 00:49:28.679 was often referred to as possibly being the very first South Pole murder, but 642 00:49:28.800 --> 00:49:32.199 technically it may not be the first recorded murder to ever take place in Antarctica. 643 00:49:34.079 --> 00:49:37.800 That particular incident is alleged to have taken place in nineteen fifty nine at 644 00:49:37.840 --> 00:49:44.719 the Vostok Station, a Russian research station located in Princess elizabeth Land, which 645 00:49:44.760 --> 00:49:47.960 is believed to be the coldest place on Earth. The story goes a two 646 00:49:49.039 --> 00:49:52.679 Russian scientists got into a heated dispute following a chess match, which led to 647 00:49:52.679 --> 00:49:58.800 the loser attacking the winner with an ice axe. Different sources give different accounts 648 00:49:58.800 --> 00:50:01.960 about whether or not the victim survive, so we can't vouch for the truthfulness 649 00:50:01.960 --> 00:50:07.840 of the story, but apparently the incident led to the banning of chess games 650 00:50:07.880 --> 00:50:12.519 at Soviet and Russian and Arctic stations weather of the case. It might also 651 00:50:12.559 --> 00:50:16.119 be premature to refer to Rodney Mark's death as a murder, since that's never 652 00:50:16.159 --> 00:50:21.239 been conclusively proven, But theoretically, if you wanted to kill someone and get 653 00:50:21.239 --> 00:50:23.719 away with it, at Arctica could be an ideal place to commit the perfect 654 00:50:23.800 --> 00:50:30.920 crime. Absolutely, especially if you were looking at these types of stations and 655 00:50:30.519 --> 00:50:35.679 the labs that are being run there. They are so isolated, they are 656 00:50:35.840 --> 00:50:40.400 so sparsely populated. There aren't the same types of Yes, there's going to 657 00:50:40.400 --> 00:50:46.440 be security and precautions to protect the data that's there, but I don't think 658 00:50:46.480 --> 00:50:53.559 you have a crime prevention and criminal response team as part of the bare bones 659 00:50:53.880 --> 00:51:00.199 crew that's running there. So one of my all time favorite movies is On 660 00:51:00.280 --> 00:51:04.480 Carpenter's nineteen eighty two remake of the Thing, and ever since I first watched 661 00:51:04.519 --> 00:51:07.880 it, I've always been fascinated by the idea of living at an isolated research 662 00:51:07.920 --> 00:51:13.960 station in Antarctica for an extended period of time, and the terrifying possibility of 663 00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:17.639 having no means of escape or rescue if something goes horribly wrong. In fact, 664 00:51:17.639 --> 00:51:22.880 that the Edmondson Scott South Pole Station, whenever the last flight home leaves 665 00:51:22.920 --> 00:51:25.760 for the winter season, it's become an annual tradition for the crew who have 666 00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:31.159 stayed behind to immediately have a marathon screening session of the original nineteen fifty one 667 00:51:31.239 --> 00:51:36.679 version of The Thing, the John Carpenter remake, and the twenty eleven prequel. 668 00:51:37.239 --> 00:51:39.719 Technically, everyone at the station is now in the same position as the 669 00:51:39.800 --> 00:51:44.519 characters in those films, as they have no way in or out for the 670 00:51:44.559 --> 00:51:49.079 next six months. So imagine being trapped there if you discover that someone had 671 00:51:49.119 --> 00:51:53.239 been murdered. Yeah. I'm a hard pass. I hate horror movies. 672 00:51:53.880 --> 00:51:58.679 I can handle the real thing, but I don't want to watch any horror 673 00:51:58.719 --> 00:52:01.519 movies. And I also so don't want to be cold. We've had ice 674 00:52:01.599 --> 00:52:06.039 and snow for a week with no sun, and I want to move back 675 00:52:06.079 --> 00:52:10.440 to Florida. So I just all of that sounds like its own nightmare in 676 00:52:10.480 --> 00:52:15.599 and of itself. Make sure you watch Jean Carpenter's The Thing though, even 677 00:52:15.599 --> 00:52:19.199 though you don't like horror movies, because it's awesome. It's a really good 678 00:52:19.280 --> 00:52:23.000 movie. It is. Yes, I'll tell you a summary later that I 679 00:52:23.039 --> 00:52:29.440 read online. Okay, so I think this would be a good time to 680 00:52:29.440 --> 00:52:31.559 bring an end to part one. But join us next week as we present 681 00:52:31.639 --> 00:52:37.679 part two of our series about the unexplained death of Rodney Mars Robin. Do 682 00:52:37.679 --> 00:52:39.239 you want to tell us a little bit about the Trail Went Cold Patreon? 683 00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.119 Yes. The Trail Cold Patreon has been around for three years now, and 684 00:52:44.159 --> 00:52:49.320 we offer these standard bonus features like early ad free episodes, and I also 685 00:52:49.400 --> 00:52:52.760 send out stickers and sign thank you cards to anyone who signs up with us 686 00:52:52.840 --> 00:52:58.199 on Patreon. If you join our five dollars tier Tier two, we also 687 00:52:58.280 --> 00:53:02.400 offer monthly bonus episode in which I talk about cases which are not featured on 688 00:53:02.440 --> 00:53:07.320 the Trail Went Cold's original feed, so they're exclusive to Patreon, and if 689 00:53:07.360 --> 00:53:10.199 you join our highest tier tier three, the ten dollars tier. One of 690 00:53:10.239 --> 00:53:15.880 the features we offer is a audio commentary track over classic episodes of Unsawved Mysteries, 691 00:53:16.159 --> 00:53:21.239 where you can download an audio file and then boot up the original Unsolved 692 00:53:21.280 --> 00:53:25.719 Mysteries episode on Amazon Prime or YouTube and play it with my audio commentary playing 693 00:53:25.760 --> 00:53:30.000 in the background, where I just provide trivia and factoids about the cases featured 694 00:53:30.039 --> 00:53:34.800 in this episode. And incidentally, the very first episode that I did a 695 00:53:34.800 --> 00:53:38.079 commentary track over was the episode featuring this case. So if you want to 696 00:53:38.119 --> 00:53:43.519 download a commentary track in which I make more smart ass remarks about Jewel Kaylor, 697 00:53:43.800 --> 00:53:45.719 then be sure to join Tier three. So I want to let you 698 00:53:45.760 --> 00:53:50.400 know a little bit about the Jeweles and Nashty Patreon, so there's early ad 699 00:53:50.400 --> 00:53:53.519 free episodes of The Path Went Chili. We've got our Path Went Chili mini's, 700 00:53:53.559 --> 00:53:57.480 which are always over an hour, so they're not very mini, but 701 00:53:57.519 --> 00:54:00.440 they're just too short to turn into a series. I really enjoying doing those, 702 00:54:00.519 --> 00:54:04.760 so we hope you'll check out those Patreons will link them in the show 703 00:54:04.800 --> 00:54:07.239 notes. So I want to thank you all for listening, and any chance 704 00:54:07.280 --> 00:54:10.519 you have to share us on social media with a friend or to rate and 705 00:54:10.559 --> 00:54:15.880 review is greatly appreciated. You can email us at The Pathwentchili at gmail dot 706 00:54:15.920 --> 00:54:20.039 com. You can reach us on Twitter at the Pathwink so until next time, 707 00:54:20.119 --> 00:54:22.679 be sure to bundle up, because cold trails and chili pass call for 708 00:54:22.760 --> 00:54:27.760 warm clothing. Music by Paul Rich from the podcast Cold Callers Comedy