The trailer for the upcoming film Cocaine Bear caused quite a stir on social media when it dropped earlier this month. The black comedy-thriller follows an “oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists, and teens” as they “converge in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine,” as per the official synopsis.
Slated for release in February, Cocaine Bear is directed by Elizabeth Banks and stars Goodfellas’ actor Ray Liotta in his final role before his death in May. But despite the bizarre nature of the film’s plot, Cocaine Bear is actually loosely based on an equally-bizarre true story.
The events unfolded on September 11, 1985, when the body of a heavily-armed man was found on a driveway in Knoxville, Tennessee. Police found Andrew Carter Thornton II – a drugs kingpin and former narcotics officer – wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying two pistols, knives, $4,500 in cash and around 35kg of cocaine.
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Thornton was making a drug run into the US from Colombia and had attempted to parachute out of the small airplane he was piloting. But as he plummeted to Earth, the smuggler became tangled in his parachute and he hit the ground.
At the time of his death, he was said to be carrying drugs worth around $15m. The auto-piloted plane later crashed 70 miles away in Hayesville, North Carolina, according to Time.
Two months later, investigators found the remains of a 175 pound bear in Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest. Near the deceased beast, officials found a duffel bag – believed to have been thrown from the plane – alongside 40 packages of cocaine which had been ripped open and scattered around the area.
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It is believed the animal ate around $2m worth of the white powder. Speaking to the Associated Press at the time, Gary Garner of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said: “The bear got to it before we could, and he tore the duffel bag open, got him some cocaine and OD’d (overdosed).
“There’s nothing left but bones and a big hide.”
Each of the 40 packages is believed to have contained one kilogram of cocaine, with an overall street value of around $20m. The chief medical examiner from the Georgia State Crime Lab, Dr. Kenneth Alonso, later performed an autopsy on the bear, and told Kentucky for Kentucky its stomach was “packed to the brim with cocaine.”
“There isn’t a mammal on the planet that could survive that,” he said. “Cerebral hemorrhaging, respiratory failure, hyperthermia, renal failure, heart failure, stroke.
“You name it, that bear had it.”
He clarified that he believes less than five grams of the drug had been absorbed into the bear’s bloodstream before it died. A fatal dose for a human of the same size is 7.5 grams, according to Backpacker.
It is thought the bear had been dead for around four weeks, but its body was intact enough that officials had it stuffed and gifted it to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. After going missing and winding up in a Nashville pawn shop, the stuffed animal was later bought by country singer Waylon Jennings.
It eventually made its way to the Fun Mall in Lexington, Kentucky, where it was given the name Pablo Escobear and where it still resides to this day.
Cocaine Bear also stars Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, Kristofer Hivju and O'Shea Jackson. It is set for release in cinemas on February 24, 2023.
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