SayethWeAll t1_j9rle97 wrote on February 24, 2023 at 1:34 AM

Reply to comment by -ForgotToLogout- in A movie theater in KY is selling “Pablo Eskobear” drinks for the premiere of Cocaine Bear by -ForgotToLogout-

The fuller story is that a Lexington Ky narcotics officer named Drew Thornton becomes a drug dealer in the 1970s. He expands his narco empire until it’s the largest drug importer between the east coast and Chicago. He recruits friends from the police force and they set up a front company that provides bodyguards while having a reason to buy guns, body armor and planes and an easy way to launder money. They’re involved with several missing persons cases, the theft of military hardware from China Lake, the participation of members of Kentucky Gov John Y Brown's inner circle, and the time when Woody Harrelson’s dad killed a federal judge (all true). The cocaine bear part is just the end of the story, when the feds finally catch up to Thornton and he jumps out of a plane with a huge bag of coke, but his parachute doesn’t open. The bear dies, but is taxidermied, bought by Waylon Jenning, then by Kentucky for Kentucky, a tshirt and knickknack seller in Lexington.

-ForgotToLogout- OP t1_j9rz4oy wrote on February 24, 2023 at 3:17 AM

Excellent summary. The t-shirt company went through great lengths to find the body. They contacted a medical examiner in Georgia who autopsied the bear. He told them it was gifted to Chattahoochee River National Rec. Turns out a wildfire threat caused an evacuation in the 90’s so the bear was moved into temporary storage. It was discovered a month later that someone had stolen the bear along with other items. That’s when Waylon Jennings comes into play. The thief had taken the items to a pawn shop. The owner contacted Jennings to tell him the cocaine story and asked if he’d be interested in buying it. He took him up on the offer. For unknown reasons he took it to Las Vegas where it lived with a coke dealer until his death. The t-shirt people found out it was sold at auction and managed to get the list of buyers. They saw it was sold to a Chinese man who owned a medicine shop. The man had since passed but his wife was alive. They contacted her and explained everything. Neither she nor her husband knew of the bear’s history. They then asked if she’d be willing to part with it. She told them it always creeped her out and she’d give it to them for free if they’d pay for shipping. And that’s how Cocaine Bear ended up back in Kentucky wearing cool hats as the t-shirt shop’s mascot. The end.