Rodney Marks

A mysterious death at the South Pole would spark a nearly decade-long international investigation…

In 1909, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen discovered that two Americans (Frederick Cook and Robert Peary) were claiming to have reached the North Pole. Amundsen had already spent decades traversing unexplored lands - including the Northwest Passage, which he and his crew were the first to have successfully traversed - but he viewed the North Pole as one of his ultimate goals. He had long-desired being the first person to get there, and him being thwarted in such a fashion was a crushing defeat to the expedition he already had planned and received funding for.

Like I said, Amundsen would learn of this news in 1909, and knew that fame and glory no longer awaited him at the North Pole. But on the other side of the planet - a much more dangerous and exotic locale - there was another similar destination which no human being had laid eyes upon. So, Roald Amundsen set out to reach the South Pole before anyone else, diverting his ship at the last minute; not even letting his crew or his financiers know of the change in plans. He figured that the glory of being the first men to walk upon the Southern Pole of the planet would help him in his quest to ask forgiveness, not permission.

Meanwhile, Robert F. Scott - an explorer that had set off on a grand Antarctic expedition in the early 1900's - had returned to his native England just a few years earlier. He had attempted on multiple occasions to lead a land expedition to the South Pole, but had been thwarted because of the weather conditions. Scott had just returned to Antarctica on an even grander voyage, but reaching the South Pole was a secondary objective for Scott and his men: their mission was a scientific one, and their main goal was to retrieve fossils from the wintery continent. Reaching the South Pole was very much on the back-burner.

That is... until Robert F. Scott received a letter from Roald Amundsen, letting him know that the Norwegian explorer and his team were preparing to embark upon an expedition of their own. Scott realized that if he wanted his name to live in infamy, he would have to act fast. He began preparing an expedition of his own, which was very much hindered by the last-minute planning.

The race to reach the South Pole unfolded in the latter half of 1911, with both crews experiencing trials and tribulations in their pursuit of eternal glory. Both Amundsen and Scott’s teams battled against the conditions along the nearly-1000 mile journey, hoping to make it back to the coast before the Antarctic winter descended upon them in either February or March.

Robert F. Scott and his crew descended upon the South Pole on January 17th, 1912, having struggled through fatigue, famine, and frostbite. Scott himself, who had spent the past decade of his life attempting to reach the South Pole, only realized as his men and he began to approach the location of the South Pole that they had been beaten by the glory-hungry Roald Amundsen

Amundsen's journey had been relatively easy, and the team didn't suffer any human casualties (only losing a handful of dogs along the way). They had not really faced any severe adverse weather or conditions, and had made it to the South Pole more than a month prior: having camped there on December 14th, 1911. Amundsen's crews had left behind some remnants of their camp, but they quickly returned to the coast and then sailed back to Australia - where they announced their successful voyage to the rest of the world on March 7th.

As Amundsen and his team flaunted their success to the world, Robert F. Scott and his team struggled to survive in the Antarctic, as winter creeped in around them. They wouldn't return to the coast in a timely manner, and over the next several months, would fail to communicate with anyone. It wasn't until later that year (1912), that the bodies of Robert F. Scott and all of his companions were discovered, having been buried completely in the year's snow.

A sledge nearby was found covered in Antarctic fossils, proving that Scott and his men had lived up to their end of the mission, and had procured the samples required by their mission. Those samples would actually go on to be a large scientific discovery, proving that Antarctica had once been connected to the other six continents; giving Scott's final voyage the historical significance it deserved, and allowing his name to rest beside Roald Amundsen's in the annals of world history.

Both men were immortalized roughly half-a-century later, in November of 1956, when a permanent scientific research station was constructed at the South Pole. Named the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, this station has been continuously occupied since 1956, with staffing tending to vary between the summer and winter months.

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station remains one of the very few inland bases in all of Antarctica, and is by far the one most inland - having been built directly upon the southern pole. It was named after both men - Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott - in an effort to foster intentional solidarity in the scientific community. Over the past six decades, this station has remained a focal point of scientific importance to the rest of the world, but it also provides us with our setting for today's episode - and its backstory provides some much-needed context for the merciless nature of Antarctica itself.

Today's episode centers around a mysterious death that took place at this research station, which many believe may be the first and only reported murder in Antarctica's history.

This is the story of Rodney Marks.

"One hundred years ago, the Antarctic was a mysterious, treacherous and unforgiving land - the last frontier, beyond the edge of the known world. It was a struggle for explorers just to survive... The story of the first expeditions to the geographic South Pole of Amundsen and Scott is one of the great dramas of modern times... This heroic age of exploration remains an inspiration to scientists working in Antarctica almost a century later."

Those are the opening words to a thesis written more than 80 years after the race to Antarctica's South Pole concluded, which had been put to the page by a young college student named Rodney David Marks.

Born on March 13th, 1968 to his parents, Paul and Rae, Rodney Marks grew up in Geelong, Victoria alongside two sisters. In his youth, he was every bit the traditional young Australian male: he loved watching Aussie Rules football, he enjoyed surfing, and he was an avid music fan - who became a part of the alternative culture that cropped up in the 90's, just as he was entering adulthood. However, the one thing that really stood out about Rodney was the quality that everyone picked up on almost instantly: his intelligence.

Those that knew and later worked with Rodney would use a variety of words to describe the young man, but one that was repeated unanimously was the word "brilliant." Rodney was an incredibly smart young man, whose intelligence propelled him through his early adulthood. He had earned a scholarship to a prestigious private school as a teenager, and there, he began to express an affinity for science.

Rodney would go on to attend the University of Melbourne, where he earned a bachelor's degree in astronomy (along with 1st Class Honors). He would later attended the University of New South Wales, where he earned his doctorates degree in physics - making him a legitimate astrophysicist. He would actually write his thesis about the South Pole, going into detail about how it was a prime location for astrophysical observations.

After earning his Ph.D., Rodney decided that his fascination with the South Pole deserved a more hands-on kind of involvement. He decided to actually work there; a decision that would take him thousands of miles away from home and all he had known in Australia.

Between 1997 and 1998, Rodney would "winter" at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station: the most southern location in the entire world. There, he worked as part of the Chicago's Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (CARA), and was involved with their South Pole Infrared Explorer project (SPIREX). I won't pretend to know what, exactly, their goal was with this mission, but from what I can ascertain, the motivation was to use high-tech telescopes to try and map out how old the galaxy was by mapping the stars around us.

This was work that Rodney very much enjoyed, and fascinated him immensely. However, by "wintering" at the South Pole station, it meant that he would have to remain relatively isolated from the rest of the world; staying through the six-month period of harsh winter (February through October), when the South Pole was shut off from everything else. There was close to no daylight through that entire span, and there would be no available transportation until the weather cleared up later in the year (for context: the average temperature through this half-year span of time would range between -35 and -80 Celsius).

During this time period, the Amundsen-Scott Station is maintained by a skeleton crew; typically just a few dozen people, who help keep things operating during the cold winter months. The rest of the crew (typically numbering anywhere between 150 and 200 people) clear out for the winter months, returning to greener pastures until the weather clears up.

Like I said: conditions are so severe at the South Pole that during the winter months, transportation can't safely make it there. So the station receives a large influx of supplies before then, and the leftover crew - Rodney included - would have to make it on their own for roughly half of a calendar year. If there was something that they were missing, they would have to simply go without it for six months or more.

Surprisingly, Rodney took to this lifestyle incredibly well. He not only enjoyed his work with the SPIREX program, but enjoyed the lifestyle offered at the South Pole Station. When his contract was up, he couldn't wait to volunteer for another winter stay the following year.

Rodney signed up for another stay at the South Pole station, which would take him back to Antarctica between November of 1999 and November of 2000. This time, though, he would be working with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, which allowed him to work hands-on with the Antarctica Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (commonly abbreviated as AST/RO). This was a 1.7 meter off-axis telescope, that took advantage of the South Pole's planetary position to survey the southern Galactic Plane... exactly what Rodney had written about in his thesis.

The AST/RO was able to pave the way for other projects that would succeed it, and Rodney was able to play an important role in that in the year he was stationed there. He served as the Observatory's Winterover Scientist, and helped the AST/RO achieve its most successful winter observing season ever. By all accounts, Rodney was doing a great job at running the observatory, retrieving data, and working on new observational techniques, and he was helping the project become more efficient than ever.

In his off-hours, Rodney was known as a friendly guy, who was very conversational and sociable with pretty much everyone. He was one of the roughly 10 scientists left at the station that winter, who worked alongside 40 or so other technicians and staff, yet many recall that Rodney was one of the few who didn't care what anyone's job was. At least, that's the image I get from Gene Davidson, one of Rodney's colleagues, who later told Men’s Journal:

"He had a Ph.D. and yet he would play poker, smoke cigarettes, and drink whiskey with the carpenters and plumbers."

This was a common theme among almost everyone that knew Rodney: in addition to being a brilliant young man, he was also a very social drinker, who enjoyed having a beer or a drink whenever he felt like it. Some would later describe Rodney as a binge-drinker, who didn't drink out of habit per se, but drank to let loose and have fun. Others recall that Rodney sometimes drank to help alleviate his Tourettes. While not many picked up that Rodney had Tourettes, it was something he was very self-conscious about... and which often resulted in Rodney drinking, sometimes to excess.

One of Rodney's friends, Dr. Andrew Walsh, later wrote about Rodney:

"One thing that I remember [Rodney] always said was that the solution to any problem is to go down to the pub and have a few drinks."

In addition to being very social and friendly, Rodney was also a very musical individual - having started a couple of alternative rock bands back home before his career took him to Antarctica. He actually managed to continue playing music in Antarctica, having starting a band there named Fannypack and the Big Nancy Boys.

Included in this band was a woman named Sonja Wolter, a maintenance specialist at the station who had become incredibly close with Rodney the year prior. In fact, while there, the two had started dating and Wolter decided to winter alongside Rodney just so that she could be with him. The two were reportedly a great couple that were very happy together, and Sonja played bass in the house band (alongside Rodney, who played guitar and sang). The two had become inseparable, and shortly before leaving for Antarctica that year, both decided to dye their hair... Rodney settled on purple, and Sonja dyed her hair bright green. They had even agreed to get married as soon as they could return home, and were making plans to spend the rest of their lives together.

A colleague of the pair, named Darryn Schneider, later told New Zealand Herald reporter David Fisher:

"... it is rare to see people that seemed so perfectly matched."

Rodney would later be remembered by his AST/RO team with the following passage:

"Rodney had a combination of wildness, imagination, and dedicated self-discipline that make for great science. Rodney made many significant contributions to the science of Antarctic Astronomy. He believed in the work he was doing and was always willing to make the extra effort to get a good result. Underneath that rock and roll exterior was a guy who got to work early, stayed late, and kept a tidy, organized laboratory notebook. His perseverance in obtaining site data was crucial in demonstrating the quality of the South Pole site. His imagination sometimes led him to do things differently than the rest of us, usually to great success."

On May 11th, 2000, Rodney was walking between the remote observatory that he worked at and the station he lived in at the time, through an area known as the "Dark Sector," when he started to feel unwell. He would go on to the station galley to eat dinner with his fiance, Sonja, and throughout their meal, Rodney would begin to complain about him not feeling well; noting that his eyes were beginning to irritate him, also.

This would continue over the next hour or so, and eventually Rodney just decided to go to bed early. He hoped that sleeping it off would fix whatever it was that was ailing him, and he seemed encouraged that he'd awake feeling better the following morning.

That would not be the case. Rodney would awake several times over that evening, but he woke up for good at around 5:30 AM. At that point, he was having trouble breathing, and once he started to vomit blood, Rodney decided to check himself into the station's medical facility.

There, the station doctor, Robert Thompson, wrote off Rodney's symptoms as alcohol withdrawal. He noted that the young man seemed "nervous, anxious and upset," but there was really nothing out-of-the-ordinary from just a typical stress-induced illness. He would eventually give Rodney an antipsychotic injection to calm him down, and dismissed him back to his quarters to try and sleep it off.

Over the next several hours, Rodney's condition would continue to worsen. He began to grow weak and fatigued, was becoming increasingly nauseous (with severe abdominal pain), was growing more and more irritable and dizzy, had incredibly low blood pressure, and was experiencing continued difficulty breathing. Worse yet, he would complain of pains all over his body, but he claimed that his eyes were the most painful of all. He would have to start wearing sunglasses indoors just to function, but he started to lose his eyesight just hours later.

Rodney would return to Dr. Thompson twice that day, but both times, the doctor was unable to treat Rodney. His symptoms were perplexing, and without a more experienced medical wing, Dr. Thompson wasn't sure what all he could do. He even attempted to reach out to medical experts via satellite, but this was of no help.

The afternoon of May 12th saw Rodney's most panicked episode of his illness. All of his symptoms were boiling to a point of no return, and - unable to treat the young man - Dr. Thompson decided to inject the young man with another antipsychotic named Haldol. He hoped that this would help alleviate the young man's symptoms at least somewhat, and - in that regard - it seemed to briefly work. But things began to turn dire almost immediately afterwards.

Sonja Wolter, Rodney's fiance, was in the room with him when this injection was administered. She would later recall in a report:

"I thought he was getting better. His pupils were huge. They got smaller. He squeezed my hand. He tried to sit up. He then quit breathing and we tried CPR."

The station's trauma team was called in to help out - a group of volunteers that worked primarily as scientists and technicians in other unrelated fields - who all attempted to resuscitate Rodney over the next 45 minutes or so. Unfortunately, their efforts did not pay off, and at around 6:00 PM local time (based on the New Zealand time zone), Rodney Marks succumbed to total heart failure at the age of 32.

Darryn Schneider, one of Rodney's colleagues and friends, had been there with Rodney in his final moments as part of the trauma team, who attempted to resuscitate him. In a blog written the night after Rodney's death (May 13th), he wrote:

"We did everything we could, but Rodney did not come back. He had friends around him at the end. We have no idea what happened."

Following the death of Rodney Marks, a statement was released by the National Science Foundation, who oversaw the operation of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. In this statement, the NSF revealed that the cause of Rodney's death was unknown, but it appeared to be due to natural causes, which had perhaps been onset by the young man's alcohol consumption.

However, this would not be confirmed for quite some time, as it was just May 12th, which is right in the middle of the Antarctic winter. There would be no flights in or out of the station for several months, so an official autopsy could not be conducted until later that year.

In the reporting of his death, it was stated by the NSF, that:

"There is nothing to suggest that [Rodney's] death was related to his work, to the environment at the South Pole, or to any toxic or infectious agent."

What this report failed to mention is that there had been no actual analysis of Rodney's bloodstream, which could have shed some light on what had led to his death. This was because the chemistry analyzer at the station's medical facility had not been used, or even activated, during this entire ordeal. The device itself, a Kodak Ektachem, had a lithium ion battery that had died some time prior, and the device - which, admittedly, was rather dated - would have required several hours to calibrate... several hours that neither Rodney nor the medical staff had. Regardless, there had been no analysis of Rodney's blood at the time, so we can now see that any statements released by the NSF saying otherwise could be considered premature.

Following his death, Rodney's remains would be moved onto a sled outdoors, where his remains were able to freeze until the inclimate weather cleared up (and an actual autopsy could take place). A short time later, his friends and colleagues would band together to build a coffin for Rodney made out of oak, which allowed him to be buried underneath the stars that he had dedicated his life to studying.

Before we move forward in this story, I think it's worth taking a tiny step back to talk a little bit about Antarctica itself, and just who has jurisdiction over the mostly-lawless continent.

Antarctica itself is governed under the Antarctic Treaty System, which was signed into law in 1959 and put in-effect two years later (right in the heart of the Cold War). This treaty set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, and has banned all military activity on the continent. Most of the nations you would imagine have some kind of vested interest in Antarctic are included in this pact: the United States, most of Europe, Russia, Australia, etc. This also includes many nations that have made a claim on Antarctica in the past, such as Norway and New Zealand; claims that these nations have refused to let go of to this day, but are not supported by this treaty.

This agreement makes it so that everyone in Antarctica is governed under the laws of their sovereign nation; meaning that anyone from the U.S., for example, would be tried in a U.S. court for the crimes they would be accused of. Same goes for Russia, New Zealand, etc.

However, this leads us into rather-treacherous water... what happens if someone dies suspiciously? You'd think that their nation of residence would take up the investigation into their death, but what happens if that nation wants to press charges against someone from a foreign nation? Would the authorities from that foreign nation allow them to move forward? Would Antarctic Law be respected? Or would this be treated just like maritime law, for example, which is rather fluid in its enforcement (pun intended).

Most of the reported deaths on Antarctic have been due to natural causes; the other remaining few have been accidental. While violence is not a foreign concept to the continent, no violent incidents on-record have led to any known deaths, so these questions about international jurisdiction have never really been answered by anyone.

That means that following the death of Rodney Marks, we as a species had never quite encountered an incident like this before. We had an Australian citizen, who died at an American-run station, whose body would be examined for the first time by a coroner in New Zealand - a nation that had long held a claim on the territory of land the station itself was located on.

In a word, this was a huge clusterf**k, which would lead into an international squabble that has yet to be settled.

It wasn't until October of 2000 - nearly November, in fact, several months after Rodney's death - that his frozen remains were finally flown out of the South Pole station. His body was taken to New Zealand, where an official autopsy could take place. Both Australia (Rodney's nation of birth) and America (country overseeing the station) agreed to let the coroner's inquest be held in New Zealand, since they were the first government that had received his remains.

Rodney's remains were received at a facility in Christchurch, New Zealand, which was the base for American activities in Antarctica. There, forensic pathologist Dr. Martin Sage would examine Rodney's body, and quickly discovered the cause of Rodney's death in his bloodstream: approximately 150 milliliters of methanol, which was well beyond the lethal limit for someone of Rodney's size.

Methanol is a commonly-used methyl alcohol, oftentimes known as "wood alcohol," which has a variety of uses, including distillation. While methanol is found in numerous food products (such as juice and alcohol), it is often found in very, very small quantities (something like .001%) because it is so toxic. It is also commonly found in cleaning agents, and is typically used as a solvent.

Rodney often used methanol to help clean the telescopes that he worked with, but it is not known how methanol would have entered his bloodstream in such a fatal dose. Especially since just 10 mL of pure methanol can cause permanent blindness (by destroying the optic nerve), and 100 mL is more than a lethal dose. Rodney had somehow consumed 150 mL, but how exactly he had consumed or ingested the substance was unknown to the officials overseeing the autopsy.

This discovery - that Rodney Marks had not died of alleged natural causes, but rather methanol poisoning - would lead to the launch of an official inquest into his death. New Zealand authorities would begin looking into this mysterious case, but by the time they had discovered the methanol in Rodney's bloodstream, all of the people that Rodney had been working with at the south pole had already returned home - to nations that operated under different jurisdictions and legal codes.

In addition, pretty much all of the "evidence" from what could have been a potential crime scene was gone, with some of Rodney's belongings being returned to his family and the rest being disposed of; Rodney's quarters had been emptied and were now being occupied by someone else, and the same went for his work station. All evidence that might have been left behind was now gone forever.

This would make any subsequent investigation pretty much dead-on-arrival, and the next few years would see New Zealand detectives circulating a number of theories which they hoped might lead to some more information. But more than half-a-decade would pass without anyone paying attention to the mysterious death of Rodney Marks, which would remain unexplained.

Why would someone want to kill Rodney Marks?

That was the question that Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Wormald of the New Zealand Police had to ask himself, having been tasked by Christchurch coroner Richard McElrea to investigate this mysterious death. Since neither man believed that Rodney had intentionally ingested methanol, the most likely possibility was that he had been poisoned... but that would make him the first recorded murder victim in Antarctic history.

So... why would someone have wanted to kill Rodney Marks?

According to those that knew Rodney at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, he was known to have a very dry sense of humor - which might have rubbed off the wrong way with people that weren't used to it (or Rodney in general). However, it seems like Rodney always made sure to bridge the gap for anyone that he felt might have felt annoyed or irritated with him.

Darryn Schneider, one of Rodney's friends and colleagues, wrote in his blog the week of Rodney's death:

"His dry wit was sometimes misinterpreted here by the people not used to it. This is where his considerate nature and his kindness would come out. I saw him numerous times make amends in a very nice way for those misunderstandings. He would also say or do something kind for someone having a hard time in general."

It was not believed that Rodney had any known enemies or rivals, especially since there was such a small group of people living around him at the time. There were roughly 50 people living at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station when Rodney died, and their whereabouts could generally be accounted for on an hour-by-hour basis. Unlike other mysterious death cases, which take place in cities or towns, the identities of everyone around Rodney was documented by the authorities that oversaw the station itself, and all of them had been psychologically and mentally evaluated before working there.

This made the odds of a killer living among Rodney's coworkers pretty slim, since everyone that Rodney knew at the station could be accounted for; and other than a few minor disagreements, he got along with virtually all of them. He did not have any major issues with any of his colleagues (nor his fiance), and there was no reason for anyone there to have tried and poison Rodney.

Gene Davidson, one of Rodney's colleagues, later spoke to reporters with Men's Journal and discussed the possibility of someone at the station having poisoned Rodney:

"I never noticed anyone acting different afterward. And I can't think of anyone who would have disliked Rodney that much or had anything against him, or even had anything to gain by it."

One of the theories that investigators looked into was the idea that Rodney Marks might have intentionally ingested the methanol in an effort to commit suicide. This has become one of the most popular theories in the case, despite most officials stating that this is not a credible theory to them.

For starters, methanol poisoning would be the worst choice for someone contemplating suicide, since it would be a long, arduous, and painful way to go. Rodney spent the better part of 36 hours in agony, and those that do attempt to take their own life generally pick relatively quick and painless ways to go. This would be the exact opposite of that.

Then we have accounts from everyone that knew Rodney, who have stated definitively that suicide just wasn't an option for him. Not because of any altruistic beliefs or anything like that, but that there were absolutely zero indicators pointing to him wanting to take his own life: he had no prior history of depression, no financial struggles, no relationship issues, etc. He still wholeheartedly believed in the work he was doing - which was progressing steadily - and it was providing Rodney with a deep sense of satisfaction.

Additionally, Rodney had sought out help upon the first sign of serious illness, and had spent his final hours undergoing treatment. That in itself seems to indicate that Rodney had not attempted to take his own life, since he had spent his last hours seeking help. There was just no evidence to support Rodney having ingested methanol willingly, since he - an incredibly intelligent astrophysicist that regularly worked with the substance - would undoubtedly know the risks.

This last point brings us to the next theory in the case: the possibility that Rodney had accidentally ingested the methanol, or had done so in an effort to get drunk (perhaps having been unaware of the risks involved).

These theories seem to be - at least in some part - predicated on the belief that Rodney was a social drinker, perhaps even an alcoholic. This is mostly based off of comments made by Rodney's friends and colleagues, who describe him as an amiable guy that regularly enjoyed a drink and was by no means a stranger to alcohol. However, the Amundsen-Scott Station was always pretty well-stocked on alcohol, and it seems odd that Rodney would choose to willingly ingest a bottle of methanol with the known risks.

It is also not known whether or not Rodney's usage of alcohol was necessarily an addiction, instead of it being something he enjoyed partaking in from time-to-time. This has been a major point of contention in the years since, especially since some described Rodney as a binge-drinker. At the time of his death, Rodney only had trace amounts of alcohol in his system, and upon his admittance to the station's medical center, told the doctor that he had not had a drink in almost two days. That, to me, implies that he wasn't an alcoholic; at least, not in the traditional sense. So the idea that he would seek out methanol in order to get drunk - with a large amount of readily available alcohol at his disposal - just doesn't make sense to me.

However, the possibility that Rodney might have accidentally ingested the methanol remains a definite possibility. He was known to have a very cluttered workspace at the station, and at the time of his death, it was noted that his desk had close to 20 different bottles of liquid on it; some of which were alcohol, but others were substances like ethanol and methanol, which he often used for his job (to clean/maintain telescopes). It is possible that he might have mistaken one for the other, and somehow accidentally ingested methanol that way.

Other than attempted poisoning, suicide, or mistakenly ingested methanol, there remains really only one other possibility: that Rodney had possibly consumed some tainted alcohol, which - unbeknownst to him at the time - had a very high level of methanol in it. This might not have even been an attempted poisoning, but perhaps a prank-gone-wrong or a total misunderstanding.

Some have speculated that Rodney might have brought a bottle of exotic liquor with him to Antarctica; perhaps something that he picked up in South America or New Zealand before the trip, which might have had more methanol in it than was safe. Some cheap bootleggers have been known to do that with black market liquor, so it remains a possibility in this case.

At least one of Rodney's colleagues recalls him picking up a black bottle of liquor in New Zealand before the trip, which had some kind of Portuguese labeling. Some believe that this unknown alcohol may have been tainted or laced with methanol; perhaps an ill-fated attempt by the manufacturer to make it more potent.

Gene Davidson, one of Rodney's colleagues, doesn't believe that Rodney would have willingly consumed methanol. He later told reporters with Men's Journal:

"I've gone over it many times in my mind. He was too smart to drink it knowingly. If anything, maybe someone else didn't know the difference between methanol and ethanol and put the wrong thing in his drink, saying, 'Here, drink this. I'll give you a good buzz.' I always come back to the idea he was slipped it, and maybe the person didn't even know it."

Detective Grant Wormald of the New Zealand Police agrees:

"Rodney was lucid for 36 hours before he died. If he had known what was ailing him, he would have told somebody."

The investigation into Rodney Mark's suspicious death was overseen by New Zealand's Detective Grant Wormald, who had been tapped by the Christchurch coroner to oversee the case. He would spend years in charge of the official investigation, looking into every possible avenue for how Rodney might have death; including the theories I've already discussed, such as homicide and suicide (the latter of which, Wormald believed, was "most unlikely").

As his investigation kicked off in the early 2000's, Detective Wormald attempted to reach out to the U.S. Department of Justice, but was told that all inquiries would have to go through the organizations that held jurisdiction over the South Pole station. This meant that the DOJ was relegating their authority to the National Science Foundation (who oversaw the station) as well as Raytheon Polar Services (a private contractor that provided logistics, operations, and staffing for the NSF until 2012).

Detective Wormald had attempted to obtain a full list of all of the staff members that had been stationed at the South Pole station at the time of Rodney's death, but his request was rebuffed by U.S. authorities, who ignored the request outright. Eventually, Wormald would find the information he was seeking online, and attempted to reach out to all 49 individuals to interview them. However, since they were spread out across the planet, he had to instead create a questionnaire that he could distribute globally.

The National Science Foundation would not agree to cooperate with Wormald's investigation until they were allowed to curate the questionnaire, choosing which questions could or couldn't be asked of the staff members. The NSF also chose to emphasize that the questionnaire was not mandatory, thus decreasing the likelihood that it would be answered by Rodney's former-colleagues.

Of the 49 people that received questionnaires, only 13 would choose to cooperate with Detective Wormald's investigation; the other three dozen or so choosing not to, for whatever reason. Wormald wasn't even able to get in-touch with the doctor that had treated Rodney in his final hours: Dr. Robert Thompson, who had essentially dropped off of the grid after Rodney's death.

Wormald believed that the NSF (or their affiliates) had brought pressure down upon Rodney's former colleagues, telling a New Zealand paper in 2006:

"I suspect there have been people who have thought twice about making contact with us on the basis of their future employment situation."

In addition, Detective Wormald would find that his inquiries often went ignored or denied by the organizations in charge of the station: the National Science Foundation and Raytheon Polar Services, whom he would describe as resistant to cooperating:

"Despite numerous requests, I am not entirely satisfied that all relevant information and reports have been disclosed to the New Zealand police or the coroner."

As Detective Wormald continued his own investigation, he became aware that American authorities had - or were - conducting an investigation of their own, which was operating parallel to his. Such organizations would decline to comment, and would refuse to assist Wormald's investigation in any feasible way. About this, Wormald stated:

"We wanted the results of [the NSF] internal investigation and to get in contact with people who were there to ask them some questions. They weren't prepared to tell us who was there... they have advised that no report exists. To be frank, I think there is more there; there must be."

Reports over the next couple of years would reveal that a more thorough investigation HAD been conducted by U.S. officials, but the results of that investigation remain unknown to this day, with the information remaining closely-guarded.

Unfortunately, the New Zealand inquest would come to a conclusion without making any kind of formal decision in the case.

In September of 2008, Christchurch coroner Richard McElrea released his findings in the case, and seemed to put an exceptional focus on the perceived stonewalling conducted by U.S. authorities: primarily the NSF, who oversaw the station and seemed to have conducted an internal investigation of their own. In his findings, the coroner concluded:

"Rodney David Marks died as a result of acute methanol poisoning, probably occurring one or two days earlier, he being either unaware of the overdose or not understanding the possible complications of it."

The fate of Rodney Marks would remain a mystery in the years to come, with the true cause of his poisoning remaining a mystery. Yet Detective Grant Wormald, who oversaw the official investigation for years, did not believe that his death was an accident or suicide, saying:

"In my view, it is most unlikely that Dr. Marks ingested the methanol knowingly... Police have not ruled out that this was... the direct result of the act of another person, although there is no evidence that this occurred."

Shortly after his body was returned home, Rodney Marks was buried for the second time; this time, in his native Australia, not too far away from the shores he had once surfed growing up in his hometown of Geelong.

Rodney's loved ones have long since given up any hope for answers, with Rodney's father, Paul Marks, telling The Herald in 2008:

"... I don't think we are going to try to find out any more in regards to how Rodney died. I'd see that as a fruitless exercise."

Paul Marks would back up New Zealand authorities' version of events, claiming that neither the National Science Foundation or Raytheon had reached out to Rodney's family to offer up any kind of condolence or apology, and had tried their damnedest to clean their hands of Rodney's tragic death as soon as possible. Paul said that he found their original assertion - that Rodney had died of natural causes related to alcoholism - "inconceivable."

Despite his death being the thing that Rodney is most well-known for, his loved ones remember him as a funny, brilliant, hard-working, and creative individual whose life tragically ended much too soon. But instead of languishing in the tragedy of his mysterious end, they choose to celebrate his life, and remember all of the good times that they got to spend with him.

Today, Rodney is still remembered by those that worked with and cared for him, and he has been forever immortalized in the form of a literal mountain. Marks Mount, a 2600-meter tall mountain in Antarctica - which is about 5 miles northwest of Mount Speyer - is named after Rodney, and a plaque was erected at the base of the mountain, which can still be found today.

I would like to end this episode with a passage taken from the final note written by Robert F. Scott, whose tragic story you heard about in the introduction of this episode. Like Rodney, he met his end in pursuit of scientific achievement at the South Pole, and in his final days, seems to have understood what it was all for. I'd like to think that Rodney shared similar thoughts. So here goes... the final words of Robert F. Scott:

"We are weak, writing is difficult, but for my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that [men] can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past. We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last... Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every [man]."

Rodney remains the only person to die under suspicious circumstances in Antarctica, and it is indeed possible that he is the only known person to have been murdered on the continent. But unless we learn more about the circumstances of his mysterious death, his story will remain unresolved.

Episode Information

Written, hosted, and produced by Micheal Whelan

Producers: Maggyjames, Ben Krokum, Roberta Janson, Matthew Brock, Quil Carter, Peggy Belarde, Evan White, Laura Hannan, Katherine Vatalaro, Damion Moore, Astrid Kneier, Amy Hampton Miller, Scott Meesey, Steven Wilson, Scott Patzold, Marie Vanglund, Emily McMehen, Lori Rodriguez, Jessica Yount, Aimee McGregor, Danny Williams, Brian Rollins, Sue Kirk, Sara Moscaritolo, Lauren Harris, and Thomas Ahearn

Published on November 3rd, 2019