MISTAKE OR MURDER?

ONE AUSSIE MAN’S CHILLING DEATH REMAINS UNSOLVED

-  April Rose

Conditions might be bleak and brutal, but for Australian man Rodney Marks, the icy landscape of Antarctica was his playground. Until things turned deadly.

It’s been 23 years since Rodney, a Geelong-born astrophysicist, became fatally ill while working on a remote station in the South Pole as part of a research project.

On May 11, 2000, Rodney started feeling sick as he walked back to base from a remote observatory. He was suffering from stomach pains, nausea and was feverish.

Despite repeated visits to the station’s doctor, the cause of his maladies remained unknown. Thirty-six hours later, just as doctors began seeking outside medical advice via satellite, Rodney dropped dead. 

Aged just 32 at the time of his passing, Rodney had been at the peak of his career when he began ‘wintering’ in Antarctica in the late ’90s. The renowned scientist even met his fiancée, Sonja Wolter, at the station. She had stayed on to work in the South Pole and to be with him in May 2000.