So Much For Poison - Amazing Race Producer Was A Drug Smuggler
I have no doubt that Jeff Rice might have died due to some kind of poison, but I'm guessing the huge amount of coke in his stomach probably had more to do with his death than a random mugging where the muggers did not have guns but forced you to take poison and the waited around until it worked and then take your stuff. Apparently the truth is Jeff and his assistant both overdosed on coke. I am also guessing that she was probably not just his assistant.
Police believe the pair were going to smuggle the drug and swallowed balloons of the stuff which broke open and caused the overdoses.
30 comments:
were they drug mules?
And now it makes much more sense.
Yeah, I'm wondering if they were drug mules as well. The muggers could have forced them to smuggle the drugs.
I don't understand why anyone with any means would be a drug mule, it is so very very dangerous. obviously the guy had means if he was a producer of the amazing race. why would he put himself in such grave danger? from what I've heard, it usually just financially desperate people who do that.
very sad for everyone, esp. his wife and kids.
Well this just got a heck of a lot harder for his family.
How selfish does someone have to be to do this to his family.
I was just watching the Today show this morning and while they talked about coke being in his stomach, they didn't even MENTION the possibility of them being drug mules. They were talking about how they must have been forced to ingest the coke. Wonder how that would have been presented differently if he weren't a rich white guy...
Like he wasn't making enough money ? What an idiot.
of course i am not condoning the whole thing, but he was said to be a "freelance producer" which means he might not have made "the big bucks".. just a thought.
Gross!
That cannot be a pleasant death...?
CRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZYYYYYYYYY......
I can not imagine any sane person who is not under some extreme form of duress doing this.
For someone to willingly do it, who didn't even need the money... all kinds of stupid.
I know several "freelance producers," and they have to scrape for every new job. Money flow is always a problem.
I doubt this has anything to do with a mugging. Why would a presumably poor Ugandian mugger want to kill his victim(s) by giving them a fortune in coke? If you're poor you presumably use a low cost form of killing (i.e. shot, knive, strangle etc.)
If they found ballons/condoms as well as coke then it pretty much proves they were drug mules. I guess you need to double bag and not rely on local condoms.
@Daveb--I was thinking the same thing. Coke is not cheap. If they were actually being mugged, I highly doubt THAT'S the way they would have killed their victims.
@Cathy--I watch the Today show pretty regularly, and I've always noticed how behind some of their info is. Like blogs and other less credible sources will report something before them. Today seems to wait a little longer to report suspect or assumed information, such as these people being drug smugglers. I have a feeling it's more about that and them wanting to be cautious and not report assumptions than about the fact the guy is white.
Keep in mind, too, "the police" in this case are Ugandan. It's a very corrupt country with militarized police. Who knows what the real truth is.
Do you guys ever watch Banged Up Abroad (they changed the name recently, can't remember to what)? People will swallow a lot of shit or do a lot of stupid things to make money.
There's no duress that would make you swallow balloons filled with drugs. You do it because you're being paid a ton of $$$ to do it. If this guy was working with the Amazing Race, he was very lucrative to drug dealers as he probably got to float through customs and security. My (unexpert) guess, this was not the first time he did something like this.
They did it to themselves. No sympathy here.
How can people NOT KNOW the balloons always leak causing a slow and painful death ?! I have absolutely no sympathy for such ignorant behavior.
Just culling the herd....
Good God what an insane story!
Now I feel like a big jerk for what I said about Africa yesterday.
*hangs head in shame*
Okay I feel better.
I'm going to wait to see what the female says if she wakes up.
ENTY-a real lawyer waits for all the facts
Amazing Race excellent cover for drug mules or Secret Agents (new cbs show?)!
@HannahPalindrome
No, a real lawyer takes information as it appears and tilts it to benefit his or her client.
Judges and juries are supposed to wait until all the facts are in.
Lawyers are advocates for their clients, not for the generalized "truth."
To precede the rest of what I say, I am not assuming these 2 are innocent. However I am not assuming that they are guilty.
Actually, yes people are forced to be drug mules. And yes people do swallow balloons full of drugs when there is a gun to their head or a presumed threat of guaranteed death whereas a smuggling balloon is just a possibility. However usually these people are young women from poor countries with little resources not American men.
Second point is that yes cocaine is expensive...in the US and other rich countries that buy most of if. It is much cheaper in third world countries that are heavily involved in distribution. Every hand it crosses needs to be paid and getting it to the US crosses alot of hands. iPhones are dirt cheap to make in China but we sure pay a hell of a lot for them here.
So, if some Ugandian drug lord did choose to poison two people with balloons of coke what he is really losing is potential profit, not much capital.
Which brings me to my third thought. This guy was a free lance producer. What if he was doing researching for a doc on the drug trade in a country ruled as Uganda is? And someone in said trade did not take kindly to that? Poisoning that producer/researcher with the subject of his investigation is a pretty clear message to any others involved in such a project.
Just another way of looking at it.
if you want Enty to act like "a real lawyer" in regards to this blog, we'd all be sitting here looking at a blank page.
@Indy Cork,
Great points. And yes, people can be forced but not white American men.
It can go either way and would kind of make an interesting movie. Was he the good journalist who paid with his life to bring us the truth or did he want the easy cash due to an international job and ability to slide through customs.
I've never watched Amazing Race. Do they have to slog through customs like everyone else or do they get quick once-overs?
Interesting story that was posted on the NY Daily New's website this afternoon. Apparently, they were both found on the balcony of their SHARED room, slumped over.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/autopsy-shows-amazing-race-producer-cocaine-system-cops-article-1.1027590
Never buy the cheap balloons.
My thoughts are they were smuggling the coke back for their own use at home, not for profit. They probably figured they would buy it directly, cutting out the middleman. What idiots. How do you explain it to his kids?
What if he wasnt muling for someone else but was trying to smuggle his own stash back? Its cheaper to buy there and if he had a serious habit he may have been trying to save $$$
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