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Hello! And welcome. To My Favorite Murder. That's Georgia Hardstark. That's Karen Kilgariff.
00:02:37
And we're here doing it either at the end of the old year or right at the beginning of the new year for you.
00:02:43
Yeah, whenever you're listening. Happy New Year! Happy New Year! Almost. Or old.
00:02:51
Yeah, or hope your hangover is okay. What if they had a five-day New Year's hangover?
00:02:56
That's serious shit. A five-day hangover sounds like a flu, like just having the flu.
00:03:01
Or you had to be hospitalized for alcohol poisoning. Yeah, in which case, sorry, I hope your year goes better.
00:03:08
In which case, welcome to the club. Yeah, and maybe get into a program. Hey, in which case, is it the drinks that you want so much of
00:03:17
or is it something else? That's a great question. It's a tough one, though. It is a tough one.
00:03:22
Do you have any—do you do resolutions? I like to mill about in the concept. Here's the thing for me.
00:03:29
I always want to be doing better with being healthy in general. Yes. I feel like I'm only going to do as good as what the world is showing me, I feel like,
00:03:41
in terms of things that are stressful, things that are difficult, Nazis somehow coming back into our consciousness in a meaningful way.
00:03:50
Yeah. So when I say it was in my 20s or 30s, and that was like, I'm going to start going to,
00:03:56
what's the one where you go in a circle? Oh my God. It was like 30 minutes and it was, what was that called?
00:04:04
Steven, do you know? A lot of retirees. Yeah. I can't think of it. There was, we had one down the street from our work and we would go there before work.
00:04:14
And it was like, this is how I'm gonna, like those effort things, which I think are great to do.
00:04:20
Those effort things, that thing called effort. Effort-based projects. But I guess I will say this, until we think of it,
00:04:29
I can't get the phrase CrossFit out of my head and it literally is like the opposite of CrossFit.
00:04:33
It's like- Literal opposite. It's CrossFit kindergarten. What the fuck was it called?
00:04:39
But anyway, it's the idea of taking a risk or something getting out of my comfort zone,
00:04:45
I think will be, is that that's the longest way possible of saying, I think my New Year's resolution
00:04:51
is truly getting out of my quarantine-based comfort zone, which was, I don't have to go anywhere.
00:04:57
No one else is going anywhere. Yeah, I need to leave the house at least once a week.
00:05:01
It's gotta happen. I went to yoga twice last week, which is the most I've gotten in the entire year.
00:05:05
That's amazing. I don't know who I was last week, but I'm gonna try to bring that energy into 2023.
00:05:11
It's yoga so good for you. It's so good. It's so good. That's kind of what I'm talking about,
00:05:17
like busting out and being like, I think I know what I'm like. And instead of being clinging so hard to that,
00:05:22
dropping that idea and just being like, I'm going to go explore and see what's there.
00:05:27
Yes, totally. Well, I read a really cool like prompt, writing prompt that I think I'm going to do,
00:05:32
which is to write yourself a letter from 2022, telling yourself all your accomplishments that you've done
00:05:38
and all the great things and great experiences you had in 2022. And then writing yourself a letter in 2023.
00:05:46
I don't remember what that letter is supposed to say, but just write yourself a letter.
00:05:52
Look, I was scrolling Instagram. It like I like that Okay I use that What if the 2023 letter is supposed to be like you fool why would you ever think you could change And it just mean Stop writing to yourself you psychopath
00:06:05
Here's the new idea. Write yourself a mean letter to when you were 12. Tell yourself what you're not gonna be able to accomplish.
00:06:11
This year is all about being mean to your inner child. We've had enough of this coddling and...
00:06:16
It doesn't seem to be working. It doesn't. Let's bring back this evil stepmother character voice
00:06:22
in your head. Also doesn't work. but at least it's funny. But we know it so well
00:06:27
and it's at least familiar. Yeah, because every once in a while, I think I've told you this,
00:06:32
where like there was something going on and I remember getting super stressed and feeling the way I envision it
00:06:38
is just like one of those cartoon giant temperatures, like the one that's in Baker, California,
00:06:43
that just goes all the way up. And that's me getting mad where I just was doing a lot of work with like,
00:06:49
that can go up and you still don't have to actually feel that way. You can just have that experience and then be like, huh, okay.
00:06:57
Observe it. And not be trapped in it. Yeah. And then when I started working on that, then there was this new voice that came in that would be, as I was doing that observation, a voice would be like, do you need some water?
00:07:08
And it was this really nice, like, mom voice that I've never experienced in my life.
00:07:12
Yeah. And it was hilarious. Like, I, of course, got a lot of credit from my therapist for like, hey, I think there's a new character in there that might be in charge.
00:07:21
And it's really exciting. But it's time to tell that character to sit down and get the mean ones back.
00:07:28
How sad would that be? I know. I've been medicating those guys too long. I've had enough.
00:07:35
They need to come forward again. Those poor things. Just been dumping pharmaceuticals on them.
00:07:40
I mean, but you know, they won't shut up. So what the fuck are you supposed to do?
00:07:45
Well, I have been doing, I think, similarly to what you are talking about. I've been studying this thing lately called parts work.
00:07:52
Each of those little voices are part of you, like a bunch of people sitting around in a boardroom.
00:07:59
Yep. And so one of them's being a jerk. Yeah, you take them aside and you say, there's no room for you here
00:08:05
or what are you trying to accomplish or what do you need? Yep. And it could be that they're trying to protect you
00:08:11
and keep you safe or they're trying to tell you you're dehydrated, like you said.
00:08:15
It's like, that's not you. It's not your personality, the mean part. It's a part of you that learned how to cope in the world and you need to unlearn it somehow.
00:08:27
Yes. You know what I think? When you first start doing work like that and you realize that, it's very shameful to
00:08:33
go like, oh, I've just been dragged around by these crazy ideas that are basically coping
00:08:39
mechanisms. How embarrassing. But then once you realize, like once you do that work and kind of give it a little time,
00:08:47
what you realize is that's all anyone's doing. And there's the idea I used to always have is like, everyone's got an unlock and I'm just scrambling around.
00:08:56
And then it's like, no, everyone's scrambling around trying to work on it. Yeah. People are varying levels of working on it.
00:09:05
And some are not working on it at all. And you can tell those people immediately.
00:09:08
And those maybe shouldn't be people in your life. Or they certainly shouldn't be people that you listen to for any intensive like feedback or anything that guides you.
00:09:19
And that's where boundary work comes in. Oh, the worst work. I love it. I love boundary work.
00:09:26
Do you really? Yeah. It's like, oh, I could tell my mom that I don't have to talk to her today.
00:09:33
What? Yeah. And I'm not a bad daughter. Like, it's okay. Boundaries. Like when I canceled Thanksgiving a week before,
00:09:42
because I was like, I don't want to do this. Wow. I canceled our Thanksgiving. Were you supposed to be hosting it?
00:09:47
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you just said, this is getting too crazy. Yeah. Fuck this.
00:09:53
Yeah. I feel good. That is good. But now it's New Year's and a whole new year. A whole new.
00:10:00
Did you watch the Jonah Hill Stutz documentary on Netflix? No, no, no. Not yet. I haven't had a chance to watch it with Vince, but I will.
00:10:05
Because everything we're talking about, it's almost like his therapist figured out the most concise way
00:10:10
to say all these things we're talking about. And then you can kind of refer to it.
00:10:15
It's really interesting, but then it's also about the two of them. Okay. I've been waiting for Vince,
00:10:19
even though he doesn't have these problems, but sometimes I'll read in a magazine
00:10:22
like the perfect description of depression and I'll be like, look, see, see, see, I'm not crazy.
00:10:27
Like I want him to see. So he'll understand, even though he totally does, like a little more what I'm going through
00:10:33
on a day-to-day basis. Right. I bet he understands. He's been around for a while.
00:10:38
He's so empathetic or sympathetic about it. And he's so caretaking about it. He's my inner mother.
00:10:43
He is. You got an outer mother that's doing a really, is far surpassing. Yeah. So healthy relationships abound.
00:10:51
Hey. Codependency, baby. Hey. Hey. Well, that's just another boundary. I don't mind it.
00:10:58
Guys, this is a true crime podcast and we know it. We know. Shut up. Shut up. Sweating.
00:11:06
We need to talk about stuff. Guys, we got to get this off our chest somewhere. It's not therapy.
00:11:12
Because it's New Year's, we're just going to do me. I'm going to do a story. this week. There's no exactly right updates or anything like that. Everyone's on vacation.
00:11:22
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See full terms at mintmobile.com. Today, Karen, I'm going to tell you about the mysterious death of Rodney Marks.
00:14:04
He was a brilliant astrophysicist who died at a remote research station in the South Pole.
00:14:10
Oh. Yeah. Some of the articles used in today's episode are two science magazine articles,
00:14:16
including a heavily used one by Jeffrey Mervis and another one by Eric Stokstad,
00:14:21
three New Zealand Herald articles, one by Jared Booker, two by David Fisher, and the Center for Astrophysical Research
00:14:28
in Antarctica website. You know that one you go to all the time. I like to check it when I can't sleep around 3 a.m.
00:14:35
It's amazing. And the rest are in our show notes. So I'm gonna tell you first about Rodney David Marks.
00:14:42
He was born in March of 1968. He's born in a small town in Victoria, Australia. He, as a kid, he does complicated crossword puzzles way above his age level.
00:14:55
When he's a bit older, he gets a scholarship to a prestigious private school. He graduates from college first in his class with honors.
00:15:03
And in 1993, after enrolling in a PhD program hosted by a university in France, he moves to France.
00:15:09
He doesn't speak French. He learns it in a week, becomes fluent. So this dude is just like brains for days.
00:15:17
Yeah. It's, I think, easy to say. And again, I got kicked out of college. But if you're an astrophysicist, you're the smartest plus you get the big picture.
00:15:30
Like you're kind of like, almost like philosophically as smart as you are book smart.
00:15:35
Yeah. to understand matter and what matter is and why it happened and what it means.
00:15:42
Come on. Amazing. Yeah. Amazing. So brilliant. And French on top of all that. And French.
00:15:48
But his passion is science. His thesis is focused on astronomy and the South Pole
00:15:53
and how it has the best research conditions on Earth for astrophysicists like himself.
00:15:58
But let me tell you about him. He's not just smart, Karen. Looks wise, he has this long, very 90s grunge vibe,
00:16:04
long hair, grunge dude. He's tall. He's got a beard, often paints his fingernails black,
00:16:11
plays guitar in a band. So he's just like the whole package. He's just hot. He's just a hot
00:16:16
grunge dude. He's also adventurous. By the time he's 30 years old, he's completed his PhD and
00:16:22
accepted a prestigious year-long job in Antarctica working on a very fancy high-tech infrared
00:16:28
telescope. He's going to be stationed at a research center operated by the U.S. National
00:16:33
Science Foundation, or I'm going to call it NSF from now on. Okay. Okay. So it's one of these
00:16:38
remote bases in Antarctica. Exactly what you're thinking about. Did you watch, what's that movie?
00:16:43
Is it The Thing? The Thing. Yeah. Okay. Everyone watch that. It's fucking incredible. I was trying
00:16:47
to put together a little joke about that where the way you just described him is what Kurt Russell
00:16:52
looks like in The Thing and the place and the time and everything. So the fact that this is actually
00:16:58
going to end up in his death is awful because it's similar, but the real life story.
00:17:04
Exactly. So this is truly like the end of the earth. Obviously, not everyone wants a job like
00:17:09
this. It takes a very special person, especially in the winter. In Antarctica, it's not for the
00:17:14
faint of heart. Temperatures can plummet beyond negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
00:17:18
What? Really? I would just complain the whole time. Negative 100? Yeah. Right now in LA, it's 40.
00:17:25
And I can't believe what's happening. Like when I go outside, I'm like, this is unlivable.
00:17:30
And it's 40 above. That's right. There's no sunlight for months. It's super isolating.
00:17:36
The landscape itself is described as having, quote, a blinding absence of color.
00:17:41
So there's just nothing going on. According to the journalist, William Cockrell,
00:17:46
the ideal recruit for this type of job is someone with, quote, a rare and delicate balance of good social skills
00:17:51
and antisocial disposition. Basically loners with very long fuses That also what I looking for I telling you you should go to this website
00:18:07
Start your dating at the Antarctica website. I treat the National Science Foundation's website
00:18:14
like it's Raya. Just like, hey, what's up? Hey, you up? You probably are because it's in Antarctica.
00:18:20
It's the middle. There's no night. Are you up? You're always up because it's white nights, baby.
00:18:25
That's right. Most people who are stationed at these bases, not during the winter,
00:18:30
they get flights out before the winter arrives because they're like, this is inhospitable during the winter.
00:18:36
But there is a skeleton crew of people who choose to do what's called the winter over
00:18:40
to keep the base's operations going. They are staying there for the winter. So it obviously takes a very special type of person
00:18:47
to want to stay there for the winter. I also hope they're making triple overtime
00:18:51
like people in grocery stores used to make in holiday weekends that I'm sure they don't anymore.
00:18:56
Yeah. The people who do stay, you cannot leave Antarctica for any reason until the next spring
00:19:04
because planes can't safely access the continent for a lot of the year. So if you decide to stay, do the winter over,
00:19:11
you're stuck there the whole winter. And that's- Cannot change your mind yet. Right.
00:19:15
Each year, dozens of people, mostly researchers and operations staff, they do these winter overs willingly,
00:19:21
but it's not easy. You're stuck in this vast, unforgiving landscape with only a small group of other people.
00:19:27
If something happens, like you get sick, it's pretty much impossible to get help
00:19:30
on another continent. Famously, there's this photo. In the early 1960s, a Russian doctor
00:19:36
had to give himself an appendectomy during a winter over. Have you seen that photo?
00:19:41
No. He's laying down and his head is up and he's clearly operating on his stomach.
00:19:48
Wait, did you read that article? like, did he get to have any at least local anesthetic?
00:19:53
Or like- I think there was local probably, but yeah, he had to be aware of the whole thing.
00:19:58
And then he's like looking around at people like, you have to do this with me. People are just like, no, sorry, I have plans tonight.
00:20:05
He's also like, none of you better complain ever again about anything. Yes, Jesus.
00:20:10
In 1998, a doctor named Derry Nielsen diagnosed herself with breast cancer while she was doing a winter over
00:20:16
and had to treat herself until she could catch a flight in early spring. So she was just shit out of luck.
00:20:22
That's so scary. It also takes a mental toll. An expert named Lauren Palinkas once said that, quote,
00:20:29
the separation from friends and family is stressful, but the lack of stimulation of new scenery, new faces,
00:20:34
actually causes people to have difficulty with cognitive thought. Even in well-adjusted groups,
00:20:39
we estimate between 3% and 5% will experience some form of psychological problem.
00:20:44
Sleep disorders, depression, alcohol addiction. And they stock this place with alcohol.
00:20:49
They'd like stock the bar with alcohol. Yeah, just so you can get through, probably.
00:20:55
Yeah, and they have like a bar and that's like the main social hub, obviously, where everyone hangs out.
00:21:00
This really is paralleling John Carpenter's The Thing so wildly, I can't believe it.
00:21:06
Yeah. So Rodney completes this first winter over in stride, even though there's so many perils.
00:21:13
Then in 1999, he signs on for another. By early 2000, Rodney, he's 32 years old at this point.
00:21:20
He's well into his latest winter over in Antarctica. He's a fixture on the base.
00:21:25
People know him for his trademark beard and long hair. He stands out. He recently dyed his hair purple.
00:21:31
He's just like cool 90s grunge, dude. He's just a cool guy. And he also has a very dry sense of humor.
00:21:38
So everyone gets along with him. By the winter months, there's only around 49 people left on site.
00:21:43
to pass the hours, Rodney, who colleagues find friendly and fun, offers free weekly astronomy lectures
00:21:50
and French lessons to anyone who wants it. So he's also like a real cool guy. He also has time to play in the house band.
00:21:57
The bass has a house band. Here's the name. Are you ready for this? So 2000. Fanny Pack and the Big Nancy Boys.
00:22:06
God damn it. This is heartbreaking. I know. I'm sorry. Describing the perfect man.
00:22:10
I know. But also, first of all, If it was my house band, I would name them the 100 Degrees Below Zero.
00:22:18
Are we all okay? Jesus Christ. Don't go outside. Just reminding everyone constantly.
00:22:25
Don't go outside. Shut the fucking door. Shut the door. But during this trip, Rodney also finds love.
00:22:31
He meets a 33-year-old American maintenance specialist named Sonia Walter. And they quickly become inseparable.
00:22:37
These two seem like a perfect match. When May 2000 rolls around and it's time for Sonia to catch a flight
00:22:43
out of Antarctica before the seasons change, neither of them can stand the thought of being separated.
00:22:48
So she makes the last minute decision to stay in Antarctica through the winter just to be with him.
00:22:53
So she decides to do a winter over just because this guy is so fucking rad. Wow.
00:22:57
She had to go to the end of the goddamn earth to find her man. That says a lot about the type of guys
00:23:01
that are out there. They're not great. True. And also it says a lot about him as an individual
00:23:07
that she would choose to winter over. Because it doesn't sound, you know, like vacation.
00:23:12
No, it doesn't. No. Not long after Rodney proposes. Oh. So he's living his dream.
00:23:18
He's in love. He's doing research that he's passionate about. And on top of that, his research is important.
00:23:24
Journalist Will Cockrell describes Rodney's work in Antarctica as, quote, making profound breakthroughs in the way we view the cosmos from Earth.
00:23:32
So then on the afternoon of May 1st, 2000, Rodney starts to have trouble breathing.
00:23:37
He makes his way back to his room, which he shares with Sonia, and goes to bed early.
00:23:41
He's hoping he can sleep off, whatever it is. But at around 5.30 the next morning,
00:23:45
he wakes up in even worse shape. He's still having trouble breathing, but now he's vomiting blood,
00:23:51
which sounds terrifying. His body aches all over, and his vision is hazy. Rodney knows it's serious, so he makes his way back to his room,
00:24:00
at the base's medical clinic, and there the doctor notes Rodney is, quote, nervous, anxious, and upset,
00:24:05
but the doctor's not totally sure what's going on. During this appointment, Rodney tells the doctor
00:24:10
that it's been 38 hours since his last drink. Rodney has a reputation for heavy drinking,
00:24:15
but whether he has a drinking problem seems to be disputed. Many people say Rodney used alcohol
00:24:21
to manage symptoms associated with Tourette's syndrome, which he was diagnosed with.
00:24:25
But if he hadn't had a drink in 38 hours, Just, you know, that's over a day. I mean, sometimes you think you're doing better
00:24:35
than you are with the drinking because you've kind of rationalized the number. Okay.
00:24:40
Yeah, no one's honest about their number, right? Right, and it's easy to be dishonest about it
00:24:44
when you're just kind of like, oh, I don't know, you know, I got drunk. That's the whole idea is you don't know
00:24:49
because you're drunk and that's the point. Right, right. The doctors ultimately suggest that Rodney
00:24:54
might be experiencing alcohol withdrawal. He's not able to do much for Rodney except send him back to his room.
00:25:00
But as hours pass, Rodney feels worse and worse. He becomes increasingly weak and worried.
00:25:06
And Sonia soon helps him back to the doctor. By now, his eyes are so sensitive that he has to wear sunglasses even indoors.
00:25:14
The sun hasn't risen in weeks though. So it's like not even bright out. The doctor's still stumped
00:25:20
and he's the only physician on this remote base. So if he doesn't know what's wrong,
00:25:24
you're not gonna figure out what's wrong with you, which sucks. That must be so scary to be like,
00:25:29
That's horrible. Hey, you're the only person who can tell me. And if you've already decided it's because of alcohol withdrawal,
00:25:36
then there's energy we have to expend getting you to come off of that idea. Totally, totally.
00:25:41
And look into something else, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So it's not like he can go somewhere and get a second opinion
00:25:46
or have a bunch of tests run. The doctor gives Rodney oxygen and some Valium and tells him that he'll reach out to other doctors via satellite for their opinions.
00:25:55
but the internet connection is notoriously unstable at the South Pole. It's also the year 2000,
00:26:01
so it's not gonna be great to begin with. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he isn't able to call anyone.
00:26:06
Meanwhile, Rodney once again goes back to his room and tries to sleep. But by 6 p.m., he's at the clinic for the third time.
00:26:12
And at this point, he isn't just incredibly sick, he's also panicking. He's anxious.
00:26:18
And before long, he's also hyperventilating. The doctor gives Rodney an injection of an antipsychotic,
00:26:24
which seems to calm him down. But then out of nowhere, he stops breathing altogether
00:26:28
and loses consciousness. The doctor works with an emergency trauma team to try and resuscitate Rodney.
00:26:34
They do this for a full 45 minutes, but it doesn't work. And at 6.45 p.m., Rodney is declared dead.
00:26:42
It's only been about 36 hours since he first started feeling sick. And he's only 32, right?
00:26:47
Yeah. Ugh. The NSF, that's the U.S. National Science Foundation, again, issues a statement
00:26:54
explicitly saying that Rodney died due to natural causes. So they immediately put a statement out,
00:26:59
even though there hasn't been an autopsy yet. The reason the autopsy doesn't happen immediately
00:27:03
is because the medical staff on site aren't equipped to carry one out. It's not like a normal hospital.
00:27:08
So it has to wait until spring when Rodney's body can be flown to New Zealand where there's a base.
00:27:14
And from the get-go, the idea that Rodney died of natural causes seems really weird.
00:27:18
He was a healthy guy. He was only in his 30s. He passed rigorous health screenings
00:27:23
before starting his winter over. And by all accounts, he was in excellent shape.
00:27:28
So in the meantime, his loved ones think maybe he died of an aneurysm or heart attack.
00:27:33
Meanwhile, Rodney's colleagues are totally crushed. The day after he passes, they hold a memorial service at the base.
00:27:39
They even decide to give him a temporary burial until his body can be flown off Antarctica.
00:27:45
And in fact, they build a casket out of wood that's in storage and they line it with a tablecloth.
00:27:50
And Sonia carves a Scorpio onto the maple plaque and places it inside because Scorpio was Rodney's favorite constellation.
00:27:59
I know. And then he's buried in ice under the stars in the South Pole for the time being.
00:28:06
On October 30th, 2000, which is the end of the Antarctica winter, Rodney's body is finally flown to New Zealand
00:28:13
for an autopsy. The pathologist comes back with a shocking conclusion. He says that Rodney didn't die of, quote,
00:28:19
natural causes. Instead, he died of methanol poisoning. Oh no. Yeah. The pathologist says
00:28:27
that Rodney had ingested 150 milliliters worth of methanol, which is about a wine glass full.
00:28:34
That's a lot. It's so much. Also, are you about to tell me what methanol is actually? Yes. I'll
00:28:41
tell you right this moment and then you can ask questions. Because I have no idea, but it sounds
00:28:46
It's familiar and it sounds bad. Okay. Methanol is the simplest alcohol compound out there.
00:28:51
It's used in antifreeze, fuel, and cleaning products. Okay. And it also tastes and smells apparently like vodka.
00:28:59
Oh, no. Yeah. So it's not something you'd expect to find in anyone's system, let alone the body of a genius astrophysicist.
00:29:07
Police in New Zealand immediately launch into investigation into Rodney's death.
00:29:11
Okay. So after the pathologist shares his findings, Everyone wants to know how, of course, that methanol got into Rodney's system.
00:29:18
At the base, it's used as a cleaning agent. So it is at the base, but bottles of undiluted methanol aren't just lying around everywhere.
00:29:25
The NSF claims that its use is heavily trafficked and closely monitored. And as is the case with other toxic chemicals, like you'd hope for,
00:29:35
they keep saying that the chemicals are always clearly marked and kept in a locked cabinet.
00:29:38
And speaking of the NSF, its weird response to Rodney's death quickly makes people suspicious
00:29:44
that they're hiding something. For starters, they never contacted Rodney's family to share
00:29:49
condolences after he dies. Then after the pathologist shares his findings about methanol
00:29:53
poisoning the NSF doubles down and maintains that Rodney died of natural causes What Yeah And their response only gets weirder from here In 2002 New Zealand detectives reach out to the NSF and Raytheon
00:30:07
which is an American defense contractor who manages much of the NSF's facilities in Antarctica.
00:30:14
The New Zealand investigators want a list of everyone who was on site when Rodney dies.
00:30:19
Obviously, they want to interview everyone and be like, did you see anything funny?
00:30:22
Right. Or was anyone acting weird? Did Rodney say anything? Maybe he seemed suicidal or something like that
00:30:28
in the days leading up to his death. Like, what is going on? But neither the NSF or Raytheon
00:30:35
cooperate with the investigators, claiming that New Zealand has no legal jurisdiction
00:30:39
over the base. So they won't cooperate and they won't give them the information.
00:30:43
Like, just the basic names and information of people who were on the base. Very suspicious.
00:30:47
Yeah. The NSF and Raytheon also tell the investigators that they have no evidence to share.
00:30:53
Rodney's room has been clean and most of his belongings were tossed, like right away.
00:30:58
Ultimately, they refused to hand over any information. Wait, I'm sorry. They're not going to save his personal effects
00:31:03
for his family and for people to have after that? That doesn't make any sense. No.
00:31:08
Unless, hmm. Okay. Yeah. It's very weird. I know that they immediately said that he died of natural causes,
00:31:14
but you'd think that maybe like, if you don't know for sure, you'd consider it possibly being a crime scene.
00:31:19
And like, maybe we should at least save in boxes his personal effects. Right. And if you're also,
00:31:26
if you're trying to pull a fast one in any direction, like cover for people or it's your,
00:31:32
ultimately your liability or whatever, you're red flagging yourself by doing it this way.
00:31:38
Totally. But maybe it was long ago enough where people like some super corporation
00:31:43
that does like secret stuff in Antarctica, then you answer to no one and you're not really used to
00:31:49
anybody finding out about anything. Yeah. And I think the like jurisdiction of who owns what parts of Antarctica
00:31:54
is really weird and disputed too. So it's not like New Zealand can come in and be like, this is our territory
00:32:00
because it's disputed by the US. So they sent his body to New Zealand to get the postmortem and the whole report
00:32:10
just because it was the closest place to send it? Yeah. Yeah. So five years later,
00:32:15
and the investigators are still having issues with the NSF. It's 2005 now. and the NSF agrees to forward a questionnaire
00:32:22
from New Zealand detectives to those 49 people who were on the base when Rodney died.
00:32:27
So they said, okay, we'll send them a questionnaire, but we have to approve all the questions that you ask
00:32:32
and we have to vet them before it gets sent out. So they're being like cagey about it for sure.
00:32:37
Okay, I just looked up Antarctica on Google Maps just so I could see, just to look at it.
00:32:43
How far is it? It's really far. It's very far from us. Road trip? Boat trip. It's all boat.
00:32:52
Boat trip from here. But also I can see where they're just like send it down to New Zealand.
00:32:57
Yeah. And maybe there's a base in New Zealand that's affiliated or something. Okay.
00:33:02
So NSF bets each question beforehand and they emphasize when they send it out that completing the form is voluntary.
00:33:09
So because of those things, only 13 out of the 49 people fill out the questionnaire.
00:33:14
And 13 responses is definitely something, but it's far less than what investigators hoped for.
00:33:20
New Zealand detectives thinks that the NSF discouraged people from participating,
00:33:24
perhaps by making them believe that doing so would jeopardize job opportunities down the line
00:33:28
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00:36:06
Okay, so here's some theories. Let's go over them, and then you can tell me what you think.
00:36:11
One theory is that it was a prank gone wrong. They theorized that maybe the drinking culture
00:36:17
contributed to his death, because as I said, there was a ton of alcohol in the base
00:36:21
and everyone hung out at the bar. police wonder if this might have been a drunken prank gone wrong
00:36:26
and that someone spiked Rodney's drink as a practical joke. But they rule this out eventually
00:36:32
because there's no indication that anyone on the base would do something so risky.
00:36:36
These are smart people. I don't think they're going to be like, do-do-do, I'm going to, like, you're going to ingest this, you know?
00:36:41
Correct. If they're mostly scientists or smart enough to be on a base like that,
00:36:46
then that's not, if they're going to do a practical joke, it's not going to be one that's medically risky
00:36:51
when they know there's one guy that can help if something bad happens. I mean, but then you think about like
00:36:56
the people behind the bar. Was there a bartender? I don't fucking, I doubt they hired a bartender overnight
00:37:01
or over the winter. Like there could be a mix up. But if I agree with you that since we know nothing about this
00:37:09
and there's probably been efforts made to make sure outsiders don't really know how things work there.
00:37:16
But we could guess that if you're an employee there and you can volunteer to be the bartender.
00:37:21
Yeah. That's like something to do or for whatever reason. Like that idea that a person
00:37:28
is not going to be hired as an outside bartender and it's so there's not going to be some random dumb guy
00:37:33
that's there mixing up bottles. Well, the fact that it smelled and tastes like vodka
00:37:40
does to me point to an accident somehow. It's happened before, but it almost seems like that's exactly the reason
00:37:47
and you would mark everything and make it super clear. Yeah, but mistakes happen.
00:37:53
They do. Another theory is that it was tainted alcohol. Eventually, a source tells investigators
00:37:58
that 18 bottles of liquor were found in Rodney's room when it was being cleaned out after his death.
00:38:05
Multiple people report that he had, quote, an unusual shaped bottle of liquor in his possession.
00:38:11
This bottle's label was written in a foreign language, perhaps Portuguese, which made it memorable to them.
00:38:17
Rodney brought this bottle with him to Antarctica, but no one is sure what exactly was inside of it.
00:38:23
Some wonder if it might've been cheap liquor that Rodney picked up somewhere during his travels.
00:38:28
And around the world, there is a real issue of illicit liquor containing dangerous levels of methanol
00:38:32
being passed off as legit alcohol, often to tourists. Oh. Did you hear about those recent deaths?
00:38:39
Oh God, where is it? In South America, where like three different tourists just dropped dead on the same day.
00:38:46
And it turned out it was because of that? I don't think they know definitively yet.
00:38:50
I could just be speculating, but that was one of the questions of the causes. Oh, that's a theory.
00:38:56
Yeah. It just made me think of there's people that really got in the 90s, got into ouzo, which is, or grappa.
00:39:04
It's basically moonshine from different countries where the percentage is like beyond belief of alcohol.
00:39:11
And yeah, that would make sense. That's a, I'm liking that theory just in terms of people not knowing the difference and him bringing it in from the outside kind of accidentally.
00:39:21
Yeah, I buy that theory a lot. And then that's just another reason why they shouldn't have thrown away all his possessions is they could have tested those bottles.
00:39:29
Right. Which was just, yeah, test what he ingested in the past two or three days, right?
00:39:36
Like, wouldn't you want to just do that anyway so no one else would get sick? Yes, which then kind of like,
00:39:41
if this was a movie, it would be like, and that is the indicator as to that there was something else sinister going on
00:39:48
because why would you just be like cleaning house and being like, no questions? Yeah, no questions.
00:39:54
Nope, we're not worried about anyone else. This is fine, move on. Yeah, very weird.
00:39:59
So every single one of those bottles was trashed, never analyzed. So we'll never know what was in that little bottle
00:40:05
or if any of the other bottles might've been contaminated either as manufactured or spiked on site with methanol.
00:40:12
Another theory is that it was a fatal accident that perhaps Rodney drank the methanol
00:40:16
after mistaking it for liquor. In this scenario, he isn't pouring anything directly from a bottle
00:40:22
thinking it's drinkable. The methanol in this case would have been poured specifically
00:40:26
for cleaning equipment. He like, or someone, or he purposely poured some cleaning equipment
00:40:31
and left it out. And then he just mistook it for his drink and just started drinking it.
00:40:38
So just a basic accident. Right. Another theory, of course, is murder, which investigators can't rule out a theory like this.
00:40:45
There's no way. There are multiple investigators who think the accident theory is too far-fetched
00:40:50
and that foul play is the only reasonable explanation. Then in 2006, which is six years after Rodney's death,
00:40:57
an internal NSF report into Rodney's death is leaked to the New Zealand police. One specific line that jumps out says, quote,
00:41:05
the unexpected death of a 32-year-old immediately warrants a homicide investigation.
00:41:10
So that was in their secret notes. They knew that it should have been treated that way.
00:41:16
Right. But they're not cooperating. And the theory stalls there. Investigators never rule it out as a possibility,
00:41:22
but they're unable to find evidence to support it. However, if it's true, it would be the first ever homicide in Antarctica's recorded history.
00:41:32
Wow. Yeah. That kind of makes me think too, was there a person that was, not a person that was high up at the NSF,
00:41:41
but a person that was high up at that station, at that base that had something to do.
00:41:46
This is very wild theory. So it goes all the way to the top. This goes all the way to the top.
00:41:52
It highly conspiratorial and based in absolutely nothing Great That this podcast I love when we do we go into things like that We have to say things like now look I don know anybody at the Antarctica station Wait what I thought you knew
00:42:05
everyone. I've never been an astrophysicist. The movie story in my brain goes, it's a person who
00:42:14
also worked with Rodney's new girlfriend, was in love with her, was secretly a creep. And then
00:42:24
basically did this and then had the power at the place to throw everything away and cover it up.
00:42:30
Yeah. Because they were high up enough. So that it's not, it didn't come down from the top to throw all the shit away. It was like,
00:42:36
well, this is what's going on. We're just going to tell them this is what happened. And then we're
00:42:40
going to take care of all this. Right. Right. Feels like there's an inside, could be, I guess, an inside element.
00:42:47
It's kind of one of those locked door mysteries because no one snuck in on the base. It had to be,
00:42:54
If it was foul play, it had to be, you know, this little contingency of people who were stuck there over the winter,
00:43:01
which is such a like, you know, clue game type of mystery. And of all the Antarctica content I've watched in my long years,
00:43:12
I feel like one of the stories, because I'm honestly thinking of one and I cannot remember, but it also comes up in that Colin Farrell TV series,
00:43:22
North Water, which I loved so much, where it's like when people, there is a, and I don't know
00:43:28
what the real term for it is, but like that kind of psychosis of being exposed to the elements.
00:43:34
Yes. And like that basically that is a thing that happens sometimes. Yeah. But people can cover it up a little while. So then if somebody gets like, say, a paranoid,
00:43:43
just separate from every reality. And I didn't mean to like loop his girlfriend in because that's
00:43:48
super unfair. Well, you're just speculating. It's fine. But just speculating or like someone that's, say, jealous that neither of them even knew the person or knew them well.
00:43:58
But there's some weird jealousy. And then there's some also winter psychosis thing taking place where you are trapped, small quarters.
00:44:07
No date, like barely any daylight. No, it's just crazy. No horizon line. Scenery.
00:44:15
No green. Yeah. Yeah. Food probably sucks too. I mean, just a ton of cans, just different cans you open.
00:44:23
So many cans. Cans and cans. Oh, God. Okay. New Zealand investigators wrap up their investigation,
00:44:30
and they maintain that the NSF and Raytheon were completely uncooperative throughout,
00:44:36
which the two organizations deny. But their lack of participation has clear consequences.
00:44:42
It leaves detectives worried that there are still stones that haven't been unturned.
00:44:46
The lead detective even says, quote, I'm not entirely satisfied that all relevant information and reports have been disclosed to the New Zealand police.
00:44:55
So it's a fucking straight up mystery even to the police. Yeah. In September 2008, over eight years after Rodney died, New Zealand's investigation finally reaches a conclusion.
00:45:05
Unsurprisingly, it determines that Rodney died of methanol poisoning and that he likely ingested the methanol one to two days before he died.
00:45:13
But it stopped short of determining how it wound up in his system. In order to do that, the report notes a more thorough investigation,
00:45:21
like one with the NSF's participation, has to be completed, obviously. It's still unclear why the NSF acted the way it did,
00:45:28
but most people think it was to avoid the potential PR fallout of losing an accomplished astrophysicist in such a senseless way.
00:45:36
None of these potential scenarios, including an accident involving unlabeled chemicals,
00:45:41
a stupid prank gone wrong, or a homicide, reflect well on the NSF and Raytheon, who are responsible for keeping their staff safe
00:45:48
through the harsh Antarctic winter. Yeah, but if you have to choose between not looking good
00:45:54
because of that or not looking good because it looks like you're conspiring to keep the truth from coming out.
00:46:01
It was just a different story in the year 2000. No one understood the internet, the permanence of these stories.
00:46:08
That's just so fascinating. It's like, there's no long-term planning, it feels like in that, no big picture.
00:46:14
Well, it's those evil corporations. It's so easy to be like, they didn't want it to come out.
00:46:19
They wanted to protect themselves, which is what they really do. So it's not like it'd be that surprising
00:46:25
if they did that in this case. Right. So Rodney Mark's legacy lives on at Mount Marks,
00:46:32
an Antarctic mountain named in his memory. He's still remembered by those who knew him
00:46:37
as a passionate scientist who made a big impact on the world, both professionally and personally.
00:46:42
The flag marking Rodney's temporary burial place is regularly replaced by his friend Darren,
00:46:47
who once told Men's Journal, quote, the NSF hates it and continually fights to get rid of it.
00:46:53
I guess they don't want there to be a reminder of the incident, but I want that flag there.
00:46:57
And Rodney's family likes the fact that point in the ice is marked. So he's, you know, keeping his memory alive.
00:47:05
To this day, there's still no standardized protocol for investigating homicides in Antarctica.
00:47:10
as journalist Michelle Debsack writes, quote, Rodney Mark's story occupies a strange place
00:47:17
in the history of the Antarctic tragedies. This particular incident left no obvious path
00:47:22
toward preventing ones like it from happening in the future. It's not even clear whether Mark's death
00:47:27
should be grouped with Antarctica's freak accidents or a rare act of violence. And that is the story of the mysterious death
00:47:34
of scientist Rodney Marks. Oh, another frustrating, essentially cold case. Yeah. Sorry, I keep delivering though.
00:47:45
Well, no, but it is very, will there be a day where those, like, there's a Freedom of Information Act type of thing that you can do to find out what's actually going on?
00:47:56
Which it sounds like when they, when it came out in 2008, that they thought. there should be a homicide investigation.
00:48:02
Yeah, that's so telling. I mean, that's enough for me, but- Right, then why didn't they just do it?
00:48:08
The thought of accidentally ingesting poison is such a horrific one. You almost don't want it to be an accident
00:48:14
because it would just be so senseless and like sad. True. Well, and also it would make no sense
00:48:21
because they would have to be, you know what I mean? Like I just would believe that something that if it's like,
00:48:28
okay, well, this is real vodka and this is a poison that smells and tastes like vodka,
00:48:34
but let's store this right over here. Like, I just don't think they would be doing that.
00:48:39
Like, it feels very unlikely that people who are so smart that they're studying like
00:48:45
the cosmos are going to be making mistakes like that. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. That makes total sense. I wonder. Tell us what your theory is, everyone.
00:48:54
That was a good one though. That was interesting. Thank you. Yeah. That was very compelling.
00:49:00
It was concise. And then it's something for people to think about over the holidays.
00:49:04
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening. Thank you guys for being here throughout this trash fire of a year, 2022.
00:49:15
2022 was a difficult time. Yeah. But I believe it will birth a 2023 that has no choice but to go up.
00:49:26
All the way to the top, baby. Boom. Okay, stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye.
00:49:34
Elvis, do you want a cookie? Ah. This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Hannah Kyle Crichton.
00:49:48
Our producer is Alejandra Keck. This episode was engineered and mixed by Stephen Ray Morris.
00:49:53
Our researchers are Maren McClashen and Gemma Harris Email your hometowns and fucking hoorays to myfavoritemurder at gmail Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter at My Fave Murder
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