Slaycation: True Crimes, Murders, and Twisted Vacations · Kim Davis, Adam "Tex" Davis, Jerry Kolber; True Crime Podcast

Death in Antarctica: The Second Deadliest ICE

·1 hr 12 min·4 clips

Toxicology found a lethal concentration of methanol, about 150 milliliters, in Rodney Marks's system.

1. Slaycation: True Crimes, Murders, and Twisted Vacations follows the death of Rodney Marks at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. 2. Adam Tex-Davis hosts the episode with Kim Pick-Me Davis and Jerry Colbert, and their banter frames the case with jokes, interruptions, and side comments. 3. The episode asks what happened to Rodney Marks, a 32-year-old Australian astrophysicist who died during a South Pole winter-over in May 2000. 4. Antarctica is described as a place used for climate change, glaciology, and cosmology, with research stations staffed by vetted personnel under extreme conditions. 5. The winter-over crew at the South Pole was usually fewer than 50 people, and once the last plane left, no one could get in or out for months. 6. Rodney was a six-foot-two scientist who played guitar, wore purple dreadlocks, and fit into the station's social world. 7. He and Sonja Wolter, a maintenance specialist, got engaged during the winter-over and played in a band called Fanny Pack and the Big Nancy Boys. 8. The hosts describe bars, lounges, and private stashes as central to off-duty life, with alcohol flowing more freely than listeners might expect. 9. Rodney first felt unwell on May 11, 2000, while walking to the Astro Telescope building in the dark sector. 10. He reported difficulty breathing, insomnia, blurry vision, and a general feeling of unease before going to bed and worsening overnight. 11. By May 12, he was vomiting blood, had burning pain in his stomach and joints, and became sensitive to light even indoors. 12. Dr. Thompson initially suspected alcohol withdrawal, then gave Rodney Haldol, and Rodney later went into cardiac arrest in the station medical facility. 13. Rodney died at 6:45 p.m. on May 12, 2000, at age 32, and the staff originally described the cause as unknown but possibly natural. 14. His body stayed at the station because May weather made aircraft landings dangerous, so crew members built an oak coffin and stored him in the frigid station. 15. When the body reached Christchurch in late October 2000, New Zealand authorities and coroner Richard McElroy took over the examination. 16. Toxicology found a lethal concentration of methanol, also called wood alcohol, plus formic acid, which confirmed severe metabolic acidosis. 17. The coroner and Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Warmaker then treated the death as potentially criminal and began considering suicide, accident, recreational use, and foul play. 18. The investigation was slowed because all 49 station personnel had already left, evidence had been cleaned up, and Raytheon and the National Science Foundation were described as uncooperative. 19. The episode is delivered in a comic, conversational style that keeps returning to the absurdity of Antarctica's isolation, alcohol culture, and jurisdictional confusion. 20. Listeners who like true-crime stories set in remote scientific outposts will get the most from this episode. 21. Listeners who want a concise mystery without banter may skip this one.

As heard by us

Antarctic isolation turns a sudden death into a grim true crime logistics story.

Slaycation takes on a case set at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where weather, darkness, and geography make the aftermath feel almost impossible.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want an Antarctic death case with banter and a body that cannot leave.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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