[link to www.nzherald.co.nz]

When a young astrophysicist died in Antarctica, his death was blamed on natural causes. Now, David Fisher investigates whether Rodney Marks' death was the first murder on the ice

Rodney Marks was buried for a second time under the warm Australian sun, in a bush cemetery not far from the beaches he surfed as a boy.

On a hill above the grave, a gum tree stands against blue skies. Close by is the beginning of the Great Ocean Rd, which chases the sun and surf west as Marks once chased his dreams, all the way to Antarctica.

It was there, in one of the world's coldest and most remote terrains, that Rodney Marks was buried for the first time. He died suddenly, and of all the questions that still surround his death, the most chilling is whether he is victim of Antarctica's first murder.

Marks, 32, died in May 2000 at the frozen Amundsen-Scott Station, the American base at the South Pole. His body trapped for the winter, Marks' friends made him a coffin of oak scavenged from around the base, planing and polishing rough wood into a 200kg casket.

As they mourned their friend, the elite American agency that runs the base, the National Science Foundation, issued a statement saying Marks had died of "natural causes". The statement was wrong, but it would be months before this was discovered.

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[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Wiki on the astrophysicist that died.

"New twist in case of Antarctica poisoning death
4:00AM Sunday Mar 15, 2009
David Fisher

A homicide inquiry should have been carried out into the death of a scientist in Antarctica, according to an internal report for the elite American agency accused of stonewalling New Zealand police over the case.

The internal report is referred to in documents from the inquest into the death of Rodney David Marks, 32, an Australian astrophysicist, who died in Antarctica under mysterious circumstances.

The Herald on Sunday was last week granted access to the documents, which reveal heavy drinking and drug use at the American-run Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

The documents come from the New Zealand inquiry into Marks' death in 2000, which began after an autopsy in Christchurch discovered he had been poisoned by a fatal quantity of methanol.

They detail eight years of "legal, diplomatic and jurisdictional hurdles" faced by police - and have led to new rules being developed to deal with sudden deaths in Antarctica.

In the files, the officer investigating the case, Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Wormald, testifies that he was stonewalled dealing with the US National Science Foundation, which runs the base through its polar programme.

Wormald was trying to get copies of the foundation's inquiries into Marks' death, and contact details for the 49 other people who spent winter at the South Pole that year.

Letters reveal no foundation inquiries were provided to Wormald and the agency would not provide contact details for witnesses - only forwarding a questionnaire after approving the questions.

Wormald managed to get hold of one inquiry from a former employee. The report, by a foundation doctor, stated "when an individual aged 32 years dies unexpectedly, the matter warrants a homicide investigation".


[link to www.nzherald.co.nz]

Am email from his sister;

I am Joshua's sister, unforunately I do not know what clearances he had. Joshua is somewhat private and quiet about his job. His position on the ship was as an EMT and a marine tech. He had an incrediably safe job performance over ten years. It has never been said one way or the other what happened that day on the ship. Just that he disappeared. We have not had much luck with the FBI or with Raytheon, for the most part what Raytheon did say or do was misinformation or untrue. We would find out later that they had misinformed us on many things. They told us that both Raytheon and the Chiliean authorities would investigate the disappearance, that was not true or they dont want to give us copies of the investigation. They also would not give us a death certificate. I know my brother did not fall off that ship or jump off that ship. What happened I do not know. It will be three years on the 17th, that we have been looking for answers.

One interesting note. The astrophysicist that died, his girlfriend that he was engaged to be married was on the ship as well when my brother disappeared.

Several of Joshuas personal belongings never came home, and they let crew read his personal letters and emails. Raytheon also sat in on the FBI interviews with crew members which I feel tainted the investigation. We (his family) was not invited to the memorial in Chile that they had for Joshua.

My brother is a smart, educated, trained man. He has survival training. He was extremly close to my children. We heard from him just days before he disappeared and had instant messaged my daughter weeks before on her birthday, stating he had bought her a birthda gift. Which we never got. He is an amazing person and we miss him more than I can put into words.


Now this is starting to get even stranger. That woman who was the astrophysicists GF was ALSO on the ship Joshua disappeared from...

An update from Joshua's sister.

When my brother disappeared, they tried to hint that it was a suicide. I can promise you it was not. My brother had just bought all new furniture. He had been on line just days before paying for an EMT course that he was to attend in the Summer. He had made flight arrangements to fly to California to see his girlfriend, just a couple days before he went missing. He made all these plans and the disappeared. They told us nobody had seen him that morning. But, yet we found out that several people saw him that day. They want us to believe that in broad daylight, with people on the decks and with cameras running (yes they have cameras on the ship decks) that he jumped over board. He was on that ship for two nights, he was supposed to be on the ship another two nights before they docked, had he wanted to jump he could have at night when nobody would have seen him. They lied to us.

I think his sister would have known her brother very well... Not to mention the mandatory psychological from Raytheon itself and the doctor onboard.