0:01

That's a sort of freedom, like

0:04

an intrinsic knowledge, like you

0:06

are part ocean, ocean is part you, you

0:09

have saltwater in your body, you

0:11

are part of this. Oceans,

0:15

life underwater. A

0:17

new podcast all about the oceans

0:19

and the mind-blowing life within them. Subscribe

0:22

now to Oceans, Life Underwater on

0:25

your favorite podcast app. This

0:32

is a Crowd Podcast. An

0:39

intriguing coroner's inquest into the death

0:41

of an Australian astrophysicist in Antarctica

0:43

six years ago has reopened in

0:46

Christchurch today. When Rodney's

0:48

body landed back in Christchurch in October

0:50

2000, the postmortem threw

0:52

up a shock result. The

0:55

subsequent inquest would be adjourned several

0:57

times and the investigation

0:59

would last eight long years. 32-year-old

1:03

Rodney David Marks died after methanol poisoning

1:05

at the South Pole station, but mystery

1:07

surrounds how he came to take the

1:09

substance. Mystery was the

1:11

right word. Rodney

1:14

was found with extremely high concentrations

1:16

of methanol in his system. Methanol,

1:20

a highly toxic, flammable liquid.

1:23

The postmortem showed he'd probably drunk

1:25

it, and a lot of it. But

1:29

how? Had he taken it himself or

1:32

was someone else involved? That's

1:34

the question that will hound Detective Wormold for

1:37

the next eight years. His

1:39

investigation will show just how difficult

1:42

it is to scrutinize what

1:44

really goes on in Antarctica. Complex

1:48

jurisdictional diplomatic problems

1:50

will make this one of the most frustrating cases

1:53

he's ever dealt with. Delayed

1:55

at every stage by the American

1:57

authorities. acknowledge

2:00

that although some sense of

2:02

finality is required for the family, it's

2:05

also important to establish the facts. And

2:07

he said that it appears there is some sort

2:10

of legal vacuum over deaths

2:12

in some circumstances in Antarctica. In

2:15

this episode, how did

2:17

a glass full of methanol end up in

2:19

Rodney's system? And

2:21

will Detective Wormald find out why?

2:24

So six years on, three hearings later,

2:26

still not over. This

2:29

is the secret history of Antarctica.

2:37

So I am Michelle Dupree, and

2:39

I am a retired forensic pathologist

2:41

and medical examiner. The forensic

2:44

pathologist who'd done the autopsy in

2:46

Christchurch was a man called Martin

2:48

Sage. He declined to take

2:50

part in the series, so Michelle

2:52

was stepping in as our expert. One

2:55

of the first questions I had for her was

2:57

where the Sage's task would have been

3:00

made more difficult by the fact that

3:02

Rodney's body had spent four months frozen

3:04

in ice. It makes

3:06

it initially more difficult, only

3:08

because we have to very

3:10

slowly thaw out the body

3:12

so that we don't damage

3:14

more evidence. But once

3:16

that body is thawed out and we are

3:19

able to do the autopsy, then we should

3:21

still be able to get all the information

3:23

we need to do a complete and thorough

3:25

investigation. If somebody dies and

3:27

you don't know the cause, then

3:30

of course it's always a potential

3:33

crime scene, isn't it? Absolutely.

3:36

And we always treat that as

3:38

a suspicious death and even possibly as

3:40

a homicide until proven otherwise. So

3:43

at this point it might be useful

3:45

to explain what, in layman's terms, is

3:47

methanol. Methanol is actually a type

3:50

of alcohol. It is the

3:52

poisonous version. Methanol is

3:54

a close relative to ethanol. The

3:57

chemical makeup is very similar, and

3:59

they're both highly familiar. but where

4:01

ethanol is found in most people's homes,

4:04

in bottles of wine or vodka, Methanol

4:07

is highly toxic. If

4:09

you swallow even a tiny amount, symptoms

4:12

can include headaches, dizziness,

4:16

agitation, acute mania,

4:18

amnesia, even falling

4:20

into a coma. And

4:23

if you take a high enough dosage, it

4:25

will kill you. Martin

4:27

Sage, the pathologist, thought that Rodney

4:29

had ingested the methanol one

4:32

or two days before he died. The

4:34

levels in his body were so high, Sage

4:36

concluded, that he must have swallowed between 125

4:38

and 250 ml of pure methanol, in effect,

4:40

a large glass. That's

4:48

an awful lot, yes. If you think of

4:51

a tablespoon, a small

4:53

tablespoon, that is enough to kill

4:55

you within a few hours. And

4:58

so this is a relatively

5:00

significant amount. In

5:02

your experience, would it have been

5:04

possible to ingest

5:07

that accidentally? I think

5:09

that it could have been possible only

5:12

because it is a clear liquid.

5:15

It does have sort of a fruity

5:17

taste. So if it

5:19

were mixed in with something else, unbeknownst

5:22

to the person, they could have possibly

5:25

consumed it without knowing it. Would

5:27

there have been any instant

5:31

pain or nausea at the

5:33

moment that you ingested the

5:36

methanol? There would have been sort

5:39

of a burning sensation. Again,

5:41

much like alcohol, sometimes if we drink

5:44

it straight or moonshine, shortly

5:46

thereafter there would have been

5:48

severe gastric issues, pain,

5:51

even impairment of vision. And

5:53

coughing up blood. Coughing up blood,

5:56

yes. If I wanted

5:58

to poison somebody, Could

6:00

I mix it with something else to disguise

6:02

it? Absolutely. Again, it

6:05

is sort of fruity and sweet.

6:08

You could mix it with some type of

6:10

juice or fruit punch or something of that

6:12

nature that would help to mask that. So

6:15

yes, it would be absolutely possible. I

6:19

don't know how he ingested

6:21

it. Tony Stark, Rodney's

6:23

supervisor. Methanol was everywhere

6:26

at the South Pole, Tony tells me. Rodney

6:28

needed it for his experiments. We

6:31

had kind of an office in the laboratory space.

6:34

And in that space, we

6:36

had a flammable liquids

6:39

cabinet, as laboratories

6:41

often do. And in

6:43

that cabinet were two liters

6:46

of methanol and we

6:48

had acetone and a couple of kind of

6:51

solvent things which we would

6:53

use to clean our equipment when

6:55

it needed cleaning. Originally,

6:57

Tony had wanted to use the

6:59

significantly less toxic ethanol as the

7:01

cleaning solvent at the station. But

7:04

he wasn't allowed, he says. There's

7:06

an alcohol tax on imports of ethanol

7:08

to the South Pole. Ten dollars

7:11

or something for a liter. So

7:13

Tony says the suppliers opted for

7:15

the more dangerous methanol instead. We

7:18

tried to confirm this, but we were

7:20

unsuccessful. Cleaning

7:23

the telescopes was crucial. Even

7:25

a single fingerprint might have ruined

7:28

the experiment Rodney was conducting. If

7:31

you were doing that with ethanol, you

7:33

didn't even have to wear gloves, right?

7:35

With methanol, you could absorb tiny

7:38

amounts of it through the skin and

7:40

that's not a good idea. And so

7:42

in the safety talk, I would say, well, you know, if

7:45

you're going to use methanol, you

7:47

know, make sure you wear gloves

7:49

because it's toxic. And, you

7:51

know, and I kind of would say

7:55

how much I regretted not being able

7:57

to get ethanol down there because...

8:00

the, well,

8:02

it was just against policy. But

8:04

also they would, it was, you said,

8:07

what, $10 or so tax

8:10

saved by using methanol.

8:13

Right. $10

8:15

of tax and a lot of red tape. What

8:19

containers were the methanol kept in? The

8:22

usual lab safety thing. The first thing is you

8:25

have to always have these

8:28

flammable solvents in well-labeled

8:31

containers. And in

8:33

this case, they were in

8:35

glass bottles, sort

8:37

of a brown one

8:40

liter bottle with a screw top and

8:43

labeled with the various hazard

8:46

symbols on it. So everything has

8:48

to be labeled and everything

8:50

has to be in its

8:52

own bottle. And the bottles have to

8:54

be stored in a flammable liquid cabinet.

8:56

You only take them out to use

8:58

them and then you put them back.

9:01

Otherwise it's potentially a fire

9:03

hazard. So no chance

9:06

of mistaking this for, accidentally mistaking

9:08

this for something non-hazardous. No, right.

9:11

I mean, you know, this is

9:13

a standard lab safety protocol. Was

9:16

there anything at all in your interactions

9:18

with Rodney and the lead up to

9:20

his death that indicated to

9:22

you that he was in any

9:24

way depressed or likely to

9:27

kill himself? No, I

9:29

mean, nothing like that. I

9:32

do not know how he wound

9:34

up ingesting methanol. I

9:36

mean, it is a mystery.

9:39

I do not at

9:42

all think that he

9:44

committed suicide. I mean, it's a

9:47

terrible way to

9:49

die. And it's definitely

9:51

not a way

9:54

that anyone I think would

9:57

choose to die because it's painful. awful

10:00

and takes 24

10:03

hours, you are

10:06

in agonizing pain and you go blind

10:08

and it's just

10:11

hideous. A

10:15

question which will hang over the inquest is

10:17

whether at any point during those 36 hours

10:19

in which Rodney battled

10:22

for his life he could have been saved.

10:24

Dr Thompson certainly had a

10:27

dilemma on his hands. Dr

10:29

Ron Shominski was the South Pole doctor

10:31

who took over from Dr Thompson in

10:33

November 2000. He had a

10:35

very sick patient and really not

10:40

much to go by especially not

10:42

any suspicion of methanol. We

10:45

heard in a previous episode that is

10:47

the afternoon of 12th of May dragged

10:49

on and Rodney's condition worsened.

10:51

Dr Thompson would have liked to have

10:53

run some blood tests but

10:56

he said later his blood

10:58

machine, the Ectocam, was broken.

11:01

The coroner will later conclude

11:03

these tests would have seriously

11:05

enhanced Rodney's chance of survival.

11:08

Dr Thompson couldn't run the tests so

11:11

he remained baffled as Rodney lay

11:13

before him, dying. If

11:16

you knew methanol poisoning, yes we had treatment

11:18

done. We had all the ethanol that you

11:21

could want. We

11:23

had all the ethanol that you could want. Astonishingly

11:26

there was something that might have

11:28

saved Rodney. The

11:31

only antidote for methanol poisoning was

11:33

right there readily available in

11:35

people's bunks at the bar at

11:37

their work desk. Ethanol

11:41

in the homebrew, the beer, the wine

11:43

and the spurts. It

11:45

turns out that ethanol is actually an

11:47

antidote for methanol poisoning. The methanol is

11:50

not the poisonous, it's the metabolites.

11:53

It's the breakdown products of methanol

11:56

that's poisonous. If

11:59

you can keep methanol from being

12:01

metabolized then it

12:04

will eventually be excreted by

12:07

the kidneys slowly but it eventually

12:09

would get out of the system

12:11

without causing any damage. The

12:13

way you do that is you give ethanol

12:16

and you just have to essentially keep the

12:18

person very drunk. The

12:20

methanol will eventually

12:22

be illuminated. You

12:25

just have to fly by

12:27

to see your pants and make sure you're

12:29

trying to give enough ethanol without causing

12:31

ethanol poisoning. The

12:34

pathologist Martin Sage will testify at

12:36

the inquest that Rodney's chances of

12:39

survival would have been considerably greater

12:41

if he'd been given ethanol. An American

12:44

medical journal gives us the stats. They

12:47

gave a group of people with methanol

12:49

poisoning a dose of ethanol to

12:51

see if it helped. The mortality rate

12:53

dropped to 21%. So

12:56

it would give you pretty good odds

12:58

of saving somebody. Was

13:00

there anything in Rodney's symptoms that may have

13:02

helped the doctor diagnose what was wrong from

13:04

the off? One of the

13:07

things they said that he had light

13:10

sensitivity, that he wore

13:13

dark glasses, that would

13:15

be a tip off that this

13:17

is methanol because it attacks

13:20

the retina. Other symptoms,

13:22

the stomach pain, these

13:25

are really nonspecific. From

13:28

what you're saying, it's fair to say

13:30

this was a very

13:33

difficult case to

13:35

diagnose. And I guess

13:38

also in a situation where people

13:42

understand that methanol is dangerous and only

13:44

use it for cleaning, that's not going

13:46

to be first in mind when somebody

13:48

gets ill. No, it's

13:50

not. You can absorb

13:53

methanol to the skin. You don't have to drink it.

13:56

But it takes extraordinary circumstances.

14:00

I said there was no index

14:02

of suspicion. He was, you know,

14:04

very intelligent scientist. He

14:07

knew that he'd prounced with methanol.

14:09

There's no reason for him

14:12

to have ingested methanol.

14:20

Beneath the veneer of the everyday, looks

14:22

the realm of the spy. From

14:25

Wandery, I'm Raza Jaffrey. This

14:27

is The Spy Who. The podcast

14:29

exploring true spy stories you were

14:31

never meant to hear, with

14:34

secret operatives playing to very

14:36

different rules. We'll reveal

14:38

the invisible work of the world's

14:40

intelligence services, unearthing daring missions packed

14:42

with danger, deceit, and double-crosses.

14:46

Follow The Spy Who wherever you

14:48

listen to podcasts. We last

14:51

left the cult,

14:53

Detective Wormald, back in Episode

14:56

3, having received a fax from the

14:58

coroner, Richard McElray, with a request to start investigating

15:00

this most curious of cases. The

15:02

detective was on board right away. Someone

15:05

should be required to give a damn, he said. But

15:09

giving a damn would prove far more difficult than

15:12

he could have ever expected. He was

15:14

a very good detective. A damn

15:16

would prove far more difficult than he

15:18

could have ever expected. By

15:22

the time the detective takes up the case, months

15:25

have elapsed since the death. The

15:27

potential crime scene is thousands of miles away

15:29

on the ice, reachable for

15:31

only six months of the year. Detective

15:34

Wormald has photos of the potential crime

15:36

scene, but even those are problematic.

15:40

Some pictures had been taken of

15:42

Rodney's body immediately after he died,

15:45

and not of the whole scene, which

15:47

would be standard practice anywhere else in the

15:49

world. And the

15:52

area was tidied almost straight away, and

15:55

Rodney's desk cleared. So

15:58

how do you start investigating this? suspicious

16:00

death with no evidence. Detective

16:04

Wimold needs to interview potential witnesses

16:07

but he has no idea where to start. He

16:10

has a statement from Dr. Thompson

16:12

and Sonia, Rodney's girlfriend, but

16:15

the other winter overs had walked straight

16:17

through customs at Christchurch Airport and flown

16:19

home. The only 49 people

16:22

in the world who might hold the

16:24

missing piece to the puzzle scattered

16:26

around the globe. So

16:29

the detective needs a list of names and

16:32

this is where the Americans enter the scene. First

16:35

the National Science Foundation,

16:37

the NSF. You've

16:40

heard this name before, they're

16:42

the US federal agency in charge

16:44

of scientific research in Antarctica. They

16:47

hold the purse strings and

16:49

are the overall boss of everything that

16:51

goes on at America's three polar bases

16:54

including Amundsen Scott where

16:56

Rodney died. The second

16:58

company is Raytheon, a

17:00

major defense contractor. Raytheon

17:03

had won the contract to run the

17:05

day-to-day operations at Amundsen Scott. They're

17:07

in charge of things like supply,

17:10

hiring and firing. These

17:12

two organizations have the information

17:14

the detective desperately needs and

17:17

they will become the biggest challenge in his search

17:19

for the truth. In July

17:24

2002, more than two years

17:26

after Rodney died, New Zealand

17:28

police email Raytheon. They asked

17:30

for a full list of everybody who was there

17:32

when Rodney died. Raytheon replies

17:35

suggesting they try the US Department of

17:37

Justice in Washington. A year

17:40

later New Zealand police email the Department of

17:42

Justice asking again for a list

17:45

of names. It doesn't

17:47

arrive. Then in November

17:49

2004, two and a half years after that

17:53

first email, Detective Wormald

17:55

writes again to the Department of Justice.

17:58

He asks for their help. He

18:00

says any aid would be informal and

18:02

voluntary. The Department

18:04

of Justice replies, in

18:07

that case, it's a polite no. The

18:12

back and forth continues. All

18:14

requests for help from the Kiwis are batted

18:16

away. As well as a list

18:18

of names, the police have also

18:20

been asking the National Science Foundation to

18:22

share any information with them that might

18:24

be helpful. In late

18:26

2005, the NSF writes to them. They've

18:30

reviewed all their files and have concluded

18:33

that, quote, they'd be

18:35

of little value to your inquiry. However,

18:38

a document will be produced on the

18:40

third and final day of the inquest,

18:43

a 27-page in-depth report

18:46

to Rodney's death commissioned by the

18:48

NSF just weeks after he died.

18:51

They'd been sitting on it all that time and

18:54

hadn't shared it with the police. According

18:56

to Macare, that report would have

18:58

been, quote, vital to the

19:01

investigation. Eventually,

19:03

the Americans had enough of this meddling

19:05

cop. As 2006

19:07

draws to a close, after

19:09

five years of to and fro, the

19:12

NSF sends an official letter to the New

19:14

Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It

19:16

reads like a complaint. Why has

19:18

he been such a nuisance? It

19:22

all comes back to that question

19:24

of jurisdiction. Who's in

19:26

charge? It looks

19:28

like the Americans certainly don't want it to be the

19:30

Kiwis. The

19:34

cop has one small victory. It

19:37

comes five years after Rodney's death. He

19:40

hasn't succeeded in getting a list of names,

19:43

but the NSF finally agrees, after

19:46

much delay, to send

19:48

out a questionnaire on his behalf. The

19:51

cop will write the questions, and the

19:53

NSF will send it to those 49 members

19:55

of staff. They've Agreed to

19:58

this not because New Zealand has any. Jurisdictional

20:00

Power Of the U S A

20:02

Stress. This. Is pure Goodwill.

20:05

But. They do send out the

20:08

form forty two questions written by

20:10

the police. Aimed. At ascertaining, how

20:12

wouldn't he came to doing the math and

20:14

all. Did he take

20:16

drugs? Did you have see the

20:18

mysterious porn bottle? To. Have any

20:20

photos of where he lived? A words. To.

20:25

Take the whim of waits and

20:27

waits. But. As the months

20:29

drag on, Only. Thirteen people

20:31

out of forty nine reply. Gene.

20:34

Is one. And. Davis another. I.

20:38

Felt. It was important. Most. Of

20:40

the answers aren't particularly enlightening. lots

20:42

of knows, I don't know. And.

20:45

I wasn't there. But. Days

20:47

stand out. This. Is

20:49

where he first aid his suspicions about some

20:51

of the behavior he saw on base. in

20:54

the days after one he died. This.

20:56

Is what they wrote kind of

20:59

stalking behavior. Don't have any hard

21:01

evidence, Just months and months of

21:03

watching this stuff. Just

21:06

a gut feeling. Something wrong happened. There

21:08

was a a media group that went

21:11

to see. Ronnie.

21:13

Get buried, talk with the family com

21:15

I didn't go that group, I just

21:17

needed a break from everyone. And then

21:19

a month later I went to Australia

21:21

and I met with Rodney sister. Com

21:25

and she had some

21:27

very concerning. Thoughts.

21:29

About the group and people's

21:32

behaviors which were very similar

21:34

to mine and the other

21:36

folks that. We

21:39

talked about who could potentially

21:41

do something things like that

21:44

if it were done So.

21:47

I. Felt it was important for

21:49

them. To know if

21:52

it was can be investigated Ominous. Spill

21:54

the beans as much as I know

21:56

and give them every bit of information.

21:59

I could. The. Help And in

22:01

your document that you have you

22:04

will. One is a few people

22:06

who suggested the possibility of foul

22:08

play. Yep. Did. You

22:10

pay attention at all then understand

22:12

Antartica and the stress people's go

22:15

through, how they deal with it.

22:18

And then leary just pay attention to. What's.

22:20

Going on around you. You. Could see

22:22

that. There was a potential

22:25

for something to happen. Nothing.

22:28

Ever came of Daves suspicions?

22:30

Nobody was ever charged and there

22:32

were no official suspects. To.

22:35

This day. Date finds his

22:38

theories strains that so many years

22:40

the lats before he was contacted.

22:42

Five years and all the while

22:44

he was worried he was sitting

22:46

on a vital piece of information.

22:49

And then out of the blue comes this

22:52

questionnaire with a note attacks from the in

22:54

a safe. Incredibly.

22:57

Even though this was still a former

22:59

Police Investigation and New Zealand. fetuses,

23:02

Stresses. And it's not

23:04

a criminal investigation. And. Returning

23:06

the question here is voluntary.

23:09

I found very concerned that time

23:11

that there was so middle investigation

23:14

and thought put into those use.

23:16

Move on and. Keep

23:18

things rolling and people forget about it.

23:20

The yes cause on that point and

23:22

I don't know whether you're aware of

23:24

this but I can tell you having

23:26

when will the files Certain the New

23:29

Zealand place did want to. Interview

23:31

he will personally. Ah and

23:33

and the in that they

23:35

even had to negotiate sending

23:38

you a questionnaire Sit! So

23:40

why do you think the

23:42

your thoughts sasso bad publicity.

23:45

And started program getting of

23:47

a bad rap bat summer

23:49

with the hammer incidents. I

23:52

I think that's all comes down to the

23:55

publicity, but. There are

23:57

several of us have felt there was a little

23:59

odd that. There. Is no not

24:01

a lot of follow up. Few of

24:03

us wanted to. Say

24:06

everything we need. Guys.

24:11

Not the only one who fills

24:13

the investigation was floored. Gene

24:15

return the questionnaire to. And. City

24:18

like to help where he can. But.

24:20

Was no follow up from the New Zealand place.

24:23

Now. That may be because he didn't

24:25

have any crucial information. He

24:27

still thinks that was nothing suspicious about

24:29

one this. Even so, two

24:31

decades old, he's still annoyed he

24:34

wasn't contacted. If someone

24:36

dies and suspicious circumstances and

24:38

then they choose I guess

24:40

not to question someone who

24:42

was there. To me that

24:44

to seems a little surprising.

24:47

I'll leave it at that for new are

24:49

certainly they never contacted me. Tony

24:51

Stark who are nice supervisor

24:53

are still have all of

24:56

the email correspondence with Rodney

24:58

in the last week and

25:00

no one ever. Talked

25:02

me about it. Period.

25:05

Okay, that's just that's fairly amazing.

25:07

So evil, One of the last

25:09

people to Vienna. You have wootton

25:11

correspondence with them and and nobody's

25:13

ever ask you to see it,

25:15

right? No one's ever asked. In

25:19

my conversations with Detective Were Mode,

25:21

we talked about how difficult it's

25:24

investigation was. The third

25:26

and final day of the inquest in

25:28

December, two thousand and Six said extensive

25:30

evidence from him about the lack of

25:33

cooperation from the Nss and Wakefield. He

25:36

stated he does seem silly heads for

25:38

fruitless years trying to get information from

25:40

them. Kono agreed

25:43

writing. The. Police evidence

25:45

understandably indicates of frustration they

25:47

experienced and tried to carry

25:50

out their invest skid row.

25:53

What does Family Agreed the New Zealand Police

25:55

had done the best to solve the case.

25:57

They thank them for the hard work and

25:59

investigating. The. The didn't

26:01

have the same praise for the in a safe and way

26:03

see on. In two thousand and

26:06

eight what nice father poll to the

26:08

spate of interviews. Said his

26:10

family was deeply disappointed with the way

26:12

the case had been handled. His.

26:15

Poll Speaking to New Zealand's public

26:17

Broadcaster Television. You sell And in

26:19

a case where a thirty two

26:21

year old man dies suddenly, the

26:23

first thing you do is a

26:25

traitor as a potential homicide, and

26:27

that's the case. To preserve sees

26:29

the same. You preserve all physical

26:31

evidence that you can possibly preserve

26:33

and you photograph over the none

26:35

of that was done. And

26:37

then he goes on to say nobody

26:39

from the Nss, nobody from Rice the

26:41

on the doctor that was with Rodney

26:43

when he died has made any attempt

26:46

to contact me at all. Would.

26:48

Try to reach Doctor Thompson. But.

26:50

We were unsuccessful so we couldn't

26:52

confirm this. We. Ask the

26:54

National Science Foundation for an interview,

26:57

but they declined. At

26:59

the time the in a safe said that

27:01

they'd quote. Consistently. Cooperated

27:03

with the investigation from the beginning.

27:06

They said they hoped this matter

27:08

will finally be concluded for everyone

27:11

involved. Particularly. The

27:13

family and friends of Doctor Marks. In.

27:15

An interview with the New Zealand Herald

27:18

newspaper pull Mark speaks to weekly

27:20

to the American authorities. Seven.

27:23

The sake he sees. A man

27:25

has died and Yukiya, why wouldn't

27:27

you help the police. The.

27:32

Corner release as his find a report into

27:34

the deaths of Wadi Marks. On. The

27:37

Twenty Fourth Of September. Two thousand And Eight.

27:39

It's an extraordinary read.

27:42

After eight long years of investigating how

27:45

Rodney and just admits and all. It's

27:48

inconclusive. There was no

27:50

indication of suicide. Mcelroy concludes to

27:52

any proof of foul play. However,

27:55

Foul. Play could not be moved out.

27:58

Without. full and prop investigation.

28:01

He criticizes the investigation. The

28:04

scene should have been preserved without

28:07

disturbance and photographs taken. Statements

28:09

should have been taken and personnel

28:12

questioned immediately before leaving the continent.

28:15

The New Zealand police did their best with what

28:17

they had, says Makohe. They

28:20

carried out as effective an

28:22

investigation as was possible, quote,

28:24

given the legal, diplomatic and

28:26

jurisdictional hurdles. But there

28:29

was an unsatisfactory hiatus in the

28:31

investigation, he says. He

28:33

writes, the death of

28:36

Dr Rodney Marks has highlighted an

28:38

investigative and jurisdictional void for

28:41

deaths in Antarctica. I have

28:43

the feeling they don't like press. We met

28:45

Robert in the first episode. He

28:47

spent an astonishing 15 years

28:49

on the ice as an astrophysicist. And

28:52

he knows what it's like to live

28:54

under the National Science Foundation's watchful eye.

28:57

Even innocent fun can be frowned on.

29:00

Yes, we are down there on taxpayers

29:02

money. The station

29:04

is run by taxpayers money, but we're

29:08

not there only for eight hours a day. We are

29:10

down there for 24 hours a day and that for

29:12

a year. So we also have

29:14

a life that goes on and

29:18

stuff like that is also important. But

29:20

yes, I don't really like

29:22

that too much. So

29:25

if the public picture should be we just

29:27

are working down there. Part

29:29

of me thinks I can't blame them. It's

29:31

the National Science Foundation. They don't

29:33

get shit for funding as it is.

29:35

It was very tough to keep that

29:38

place going based off of the budget. So

29:41

everyone wanted research to

29:43

happen down there. They want more grants.

29:45

They want more funding just

29:48

to keep it alive. So that

29:50

could hinder that. They rather don't

29:52

have any publicity whatsoever.

29:55

And if then they want to have

29:57

full control over it. I

30:00

think if it was roles reversed, it

30:03

would absolutely they'd be investigating and

30:06

want to know the truth. So

30:09

why not cooperate when

30:12

it's the other way around? In

30:19

our final episode, we go

30:21

through the theories. What

30:23

really happened to Rodney Marks? It

30:25

is very suspicious. There

30:28

is a strong possibility that this was

30:30

intentional, but by someone else.

30:33

And who ultimately is

30:35

responsible for the fact that

30:37

24 years later, we

30:39

still don't know the truth? The

30:42

general issue of jurisdiction bumbles

30:44

on with lawyers meeting

30:46

in darkened corners and discussing it probably over

30:49

coffee, but not much else happens, I don't

30:51

think. The

30:53

secret history of Antarctica is a

30:55

crowd network original. It's

30:57

presented by me, Steven Davis, and

30:59

produced by Anna Stauffenberg. Mixing

31:02

and sound design is by Rory Alsquerie.

31:06

The music we use is from

31:08

our partners, BMG Production Music. Thanks

31:11

to Lewis Rodriguez at Sonic

31:13

Space Lab Music for studio

31:15

recording. Additional material in

31:18

this episode, courtesy of Na

31:20

Tawonga Sound and Vision. To

31:23

bench the whole series ad-free and

31:25

for exclusive bonus episodes, subscribe

31:28

to the Crowd Stories channel on

31:30

the Apple Podcasts app. You

31:33

can also listen ad-free on Amazon Music.

31:37

If you haven't already, listen to

31:39

the first two Secret History series.

31:42

The Secret History of Flight 149 is the

31:44

tale behind how a passenger plane got

31:46

caught in a war zone, leaving

31:49

hundreds of people at the mercy of

31:51

Saddam Hussein. Hear from the

31:53

human shields who were held hostage in Kuwait, and

31:56

from those who spent years searching for the

31:58

truth. Series

32:01

2, The Secret History of the

32:03

Estonia, is my investigation into

32:05

what really happened when a passenger ferry

32:08

sank in the Baltic Sea, killing

32:10

852 people. A

32:13

story of secrets, smugglers and spies that

32:15

leads back to the Cold War. Find

32:18

both of those series on the same feed. Thanks

32:21

for listening. Crowd

32:41

Network, a place

32:43

where you belong.