Headlines to Die for:
The Umbrella Assassination
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One of the most famous incidents of ricin use is the 1978 assassination of Gregori Markov, a Bulgarian dissident and BBC writer. On September 7th, Markov is walking across the River Thames in London to catch a bus when he feels a sharp pain in the back of his thigh. When he turns to discover the source, Markov sees a man bending to pick up his dropped umbrella. The man apologizes in a strong foreign accent, and disappears into a taxi.
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Four days later, Markov is dead from ricin poising due to a small ricin filled pellet embedded in his thigh. Forensic scientists believe that the umbrella had been a firing mechanism, designed to fire a pellet made of platinum and iridium which had wells drilled into it to hold the deadly toxin.
The 2003 Ricin Letters and "Fallen Angel"
In the United States, there have been upwards of twenty incidences involving ricin since the early 1990s. In October 2003, there were two incidents occurring in rapid succession involving ricin laced letters, now called the “2003 Ricin Letters”.
On October 15th 2003 employees at a U.S. Postal Facility in Greenville, South Caroline, discovered a threatening letter while sorting through the mail. The letter was typewritten, and the author claimed to be a fleet owner of a tanker company. The letter demanded that the laws regarding truck driver hours and service regulations not be changed. On the exterior of the envelope was another typewritten message, warning of the enclosed ricin in a sealed container, and instructing the letter not be opened without proper personal safety equipment.
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Upon further investigation, a small metal vial was found inside of the envelope which upon testing, was found to contain ricin. The author, signed "Fallen Angel” claimed to have the capability to make large quantities of the poison, and would disperse it if the newly proposed hours and service regulations were not repealed in the next five months.
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Two days later, on October 17th, 2003, a second letter, addressed to the White House, was detected in a postal facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The letter contained the same type-written, threatening language signed with “Fallen Angel.” This time it was directed at the United States Department of Transportation. The letter threatened to "turn D.C. into a ghost town” if the new regulations were put into effect. The letter also warned that the powder in the envelope and on the letter was ricin. Upon testing, the substance was confirmed to be the deadly poison. “Fallen Angel” has never been found.
The 2013 Ricin Letters
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On April 16th 2013, an envelope addressed to Senator Roger Wicker tested positive for ricin. The very next day, an envelope addressed to President Barack Obama also tested positive for the deadly poison. Both letters, mailed from Memphis Tennessee, were found to have very similar language. Both letters contained the phrases “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance” and “I am KC and I approve this message.” Then, on April 10th, a third letter sent to Mississippi Judge, Sadie Holland, was also found to contain ricin. This letter contained similar language as the first two letters, and was likely sent by the same person. No one was harmed in any of the incidents, and on April 27, Everett Dutschke was arrested in connection to the letters. He later pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.