CRIME CORNER: FOOD CRIMES

Hello ladies and gents this is the viking telling you that today we are talking about

The Great Maple Syrup Robbery

In 2016, Canadian maple syrup was valued at $1,300 a barrel — far more expensive than oil. It’s liquid gold, and because of that, people will do crazy things to get their hands on a piece of the profit. In 2012, 540,000 gallons of maple syrup were hijacked from a Quebec warehouse controlled by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producer (FPAQ). The value of the stolen goods totaled over $13 million. It was one of the biggest mysteries to hit Canada, and the story still dazzles people today.

Rudy Kurniawan’s Wine Forgery

Rudy Kurniawan — “the Gen X Great Gatsby” — was a young, rich, avid wine collector who stockpiled valuable Burgundies that he ultimately auctioned off for $35 million in 2006. However, the bottles of Domaine Ponsot Clos Saint-Denis included in the lot, dated 1945, 1949, and 1966, which had been authenticated by “some of Burgundy’s most discerning (and difficult) connoisseurs,” rose concern. As The New Yorker writes, the proprietor of the estate pointed out that Domaine Ponsot did not begin making Clos Saint-Denis until 1982.

The Carbolic Acid Cocktail Murder

In 1965, Mary Marrs Cawein, a 39-year-old housewife living in Lexington, Kentucky, died after a night out with her husband, Dr. Madison Cawein III, and two friends, Sam and Betty Strother. She was found slumped in her chair, with an empty cocktail glass on the table next to her. Her autopsy revealed she had been poisoned with carbolic acid, which had burned her stomach and caused fatal gastritis. Any one of Mary’s several drinks from the night could have been laced — however, injection marks found on her legs suggested she was sedated before she was forced to drink the acid-laced cocktail.

I hope you liked this post and as always have a chilled day from the viking.