WEBVTT - Bjork: The Package, the Fan, and a Deadly Obsession 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:14.600 Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:20.000 story about obsession, about art, about death, about a high 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:26.640 stake search in low down hate. It's also about love, mercy, 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:30.680 and creativity. This is a story about a deranged fan 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:36.400 and the musician he obsessed over Byork, a musician who 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:40.360 made great music, unlike that music I played for you 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:42.920 at the top of the show that wasn't great music, 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.440 and that was a preset loop for my melotron called 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:51.960 Grease Paint Assassin MK. Two. I played you that loop 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.760 because I can't afford the rights to Macarena by Los 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.600 del Rio. And why would I play you that specific 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:01.279 slide of come on Man? 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:02.200 Not the song again? 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.040 Jeez? Could I afford it? Because that was the number 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:11.080 one song in America on September twelfth, nineteen ninety six, 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:14.319 And that was the day that Ricardo Lopez went to 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.840 his local post office with a gun in his pocket 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:19.920 and a package in his hand, setting off one of 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:24.120 the weirdest and potentially disastrous chapters. 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:24.680 In music history. 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:32.039 On this episode, Obsession, Hey Creativity, A deadly package. Ricardo 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:36.679 Lopez in the Icelandic drum 'ond Bassed Princess b York. 0:01:37.840 --> 0:02:06.760 I'm Jake Brennan. In this this disgraceland. 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:13.680 All Byork wanted to do was create, and sometimes it 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.880 seemed like all the world wanted to do was prevent 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:22.040 her from doing so. Especially in nineteen ninety six. Buzzing 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.079 about her London apartment, the thirty year old singer was 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:29.120 attempting to piece together music that would bridge the excellence 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.400 of her first two solo albums, Debut from nineteen ninety 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.320 three and Post from nineteen ninety five, to some sort 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:42.000 of as yet unimagined artistic evolution. Drum and bass music 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:45.640 blared throughout the apartment and ceedy jewel cases were scattered 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.400 about most of the flat surfaces. A giant projector screen 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:53.160 was set up for future film viewing Japanese independence and 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:57.480 red in stimpy cartoons. The video cassettes and books were 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:01.200 strewn about everywhere, and her bed was upstairs, as was 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:04.160 the bed belonging to her ten year old son, and 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:04.960 the dad was. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:05.600 In the picture. 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:11.079 Speaking of pictures, Byork's face adorned the covers of numerous 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:16.240 magazines laying about Vox and Emmy and CMJ from the States, 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:22.120 also from America Interview magazine with an ageless Goldie Hawn 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.800 on the cover in a Byork interview within on the 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.560 wall a telephone which Buorke made a habit. 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:30.240 Of not answering. 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.360 In most stories about artists, this is the point where 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:38.160 the storyteller would say, since breaking onto the scene in 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:40.880 the year blah blah blah, Byork had blah blah blah 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:45.400 and blah blah blah, but Bjork was practically always on 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:48.960 the scene. She'd broken through at the age of eleven 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.560 in her home country of Iceland. Granted Iceland, back in 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.560 the time of Byork's breakthrough in nineteen seventy seven, had 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.240 only a population of about a quarter million people, but 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:02.520 still fame as fame, and no matter how atomized pressure 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:07.160 is pressure. B York's hippy parents recognized early on that 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.680 their daughter could sing, and soon after a performance of 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.360 young Buork's the recording of which was arranged by her 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.919 parents to be broadcast on national icelandic radio, led to 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.920 a recording contract and an album was released in December 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:23.799 of nineteen seventy seven. A series of punk bands followed 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:28.320 for Biorkis she developed her voice, a voice like no other. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:34.039 As the teenage Bork strolled through her icelandic Homeland bundled 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.760 up on her way to and from school. She cut 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:40.440 through the raw, frozen landscape and the icy mountains shooting 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.400 up out of nowhere, and along the jagged coastline, and 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:47.400 passed the bulging glaciers and floating icebergs, and through the 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:52.000 fertile lowlands and over the black sand beaches. This dramatic 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.720 landscape gave way to wicked winds, winds that whipped up 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.080 in sneaky fits and starts that were there in an 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.760 instant and then gone as soon as they arrived. As 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:05.520 Buyork walked through this maze of natural drama, she sang 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.960 to herself, and when the winds gusted, she'd have to 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.479 raise her voice to hear herself, And when the winds disappeared, 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.440 she'd drop her voice to a whisper so as to 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.960 not be heard by any curious passers by. In this way, 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.440 she developed one of the most unique singing styles in 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.880 all of pop music. To hear Byork sing is to 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.080 hear the voice of a true original, and that originality 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.360 was born of Iceland's dynamic terrain. Just like the singer herself, 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.880 Byorke's voice sores, it shoots up out of nowhere like 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:43.080 an iceberg, and then quickly sinks below the waterline, submerging 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:48.200 itself in the Mystery of the Deep. You could hear 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.359 this style rounding into form in Buyork's first real project 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:56.160 of international consequence, her band The Sugarcubes, a band that 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.120 garnered critical acclaimed in the UK and in the US 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.839 with their single Birthday and their Electra Records distributed album 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.679 Life Stute Good. In nineteen eighty eight, The Sugar Cubes 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.600 appeared on Saturday Night Live in the States, but by 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.680 nineteen ninety the band was broken up and b York 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.400 was now a young single mother, having given birth to 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:20.359 a son by the Sugar Cubes guitarist Door Elden, and 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.280 she soon launched a solo career through a creative collaboration 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.440 with Soul to Soul Alarm and Massive Attack co conspirator 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.599 Nellie Hooper, and the fruit of this relationship led to 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.039 the release of Byork's first proper solo album debut in 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:37.680 nineteen ninety three with its massive hit Human Behavior, and 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.360 the album was an international commercial success, which quickly led 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:45.080 to more success, including the brit Awards and a collaboration 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.360 with Madonna for her nineteen ninety four album Bedtime Stories, 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.440 and before anyone could take a beat to appreciate the 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:56.200 whirlwinds swirling around b York, the artist continued creating Now 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.600 in collaboration with producer DJ Trickey in eight o eight 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:04.520 State Graham Massey, and by nineteen ninety five Byorck had 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.039 a second, even more successful solo album on her hands 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:13.440 called Post. Post was in a way a perfect sophomore effort. 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:18.040 It reinforced every promise made on Buyorck's debut. It doubled 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:21.520 down on the sounds Buyork first presented with excellent singles 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:25.120 Army of Me and It's Oh So Quiet, and the 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.720 album solidified Buorck as a one of a kind visual artists, 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.080 with her videos for those tunes, each one presenting a 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:35.440 new vision imagined by the artist and the groundbreaking director 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:39.080 she chose to collaborate with Michelle Gondry and Spike Jones 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.120 among them. It was a vision that cast Buorick as 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:46.240 a generational artist, a venerable pixie five foot four but 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.040 full of roar and the slack generation's female answer to 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:52.400 the Man Who Fell to Earth, but with beats and 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:57.640 a total babe to boom by this time, Buorke's fame 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:02.080 was not atomized. By nineteen ninety b York was an 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:06.880 explosive international pop star. Nineteen ninety six was a much 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:11.080 different time for pop stars than twenty twenty five. Nowadays, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:14.720 artists pay a premium for people's attention. The premium they 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:19.480 pay is their privacy. In exchange for relevance. Artists open 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:23.000 up their private worlds to show the public their authentic cells, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.760 and no moment is too sacred for some and for others, 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.800 even the most innocuous peak behind the curtain can result 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:34.360 in millions of views, like shares and new followers. In 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.720 nineteen ninety six, it was very much the opposite. In 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:42.040 the nineties, artists put a premium on privacy. Once an 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.600 artists broke through, there was no need to open themselves 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.520 up because the media at the time was completely different. 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.400 Small armies of publicists and agents and managers ensured that 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.959 the public saw exactly what the artists and celebrities wanted 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.640 them to see. Spoon feeding publications to keep their clients' 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:02.040 names in the public long enough to maintain continuous relevance. 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.760 What canned photo ops, pre arranged Q and A interviews 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:10.840 could only go so far. It was then as now natural, 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.600 if you'll excuse upon human behavior to want to know 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:20.600 more about the artists who inspire us enter. The paparazzi, 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:25.400 pesky photographers, and gossipy so called journalists still exist as 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.400 they always have. It's just that today they're more of 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:32.080 a utility than a nuisance. In this digital age war 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.800 for our eyes and ears, artists and celebrities court attention 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:40.440 and thus the paparazzi for clicks, follows and relevance. In 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.720 the naval gazing nineties, artists loathed the attention of the paparazzi, 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:48.520 going to extremes to avoid their cameras and questions lest 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:51.240 their raw comments and unwanted candids would end up in 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:55.160 the pages of checkout line trash. So when itty Bitty 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:58.000 Buork went full Sean penn On a member of the 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:01.360 paparazzi in a Bangkok airport in early nineteen ninety six, 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.280 attacking a reporter with her fists in front of her 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.199 young son and also in front of numerous other cameras, 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.760 this behavior was not seen as something beyond the pale. 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.240 It was only a bad moment for Byorke, who had 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.960 just completed an international flight. It was likely sleep deprived 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:22.040 and a bit beyond herself in the moment. Buorck eventually 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.160 apologized and the incident wasn't in the least bit damaging 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:32.200 to her career. Still, the images of Buick's attack were 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:36.480 broadcast all over the world. For culture vultures, this was 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.880 a delicious peak behind the curtain at Buorck's authentic self, 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.560 a young Tiger mom defending her privacy. Most people could 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:49.079 sympathize with that, including a fan all the way over 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:53.160 in the United States, an obsessed fan, a fan whose 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:56.720 obsession was bending toward derangement, a fan who was in 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.440 love with Byork, A fan who wrote countless letters to Byork, 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.040 letters that went unanswered. A fan who had to know 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.560 that Byorke knew who he was. A fan who was sick, 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.480 A fan who was racist, A fan who could not 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:15.040 accept that his obsession, this snow white picture of creative purity, 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:19.160 was now in a relationship with the UK DJ Goldie, 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:23.400 a black man. This demented fan believes he had to 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:27.120 do something about this agreement, this insult. If b York 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.480 wouldn't answer his letters, if Buorck wanted to debase herself. 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.120 If Buorke wanted to embarrass fans of hers like him, well, 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.240 then he would just have to introduce himself to Byork. 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:42.000 He'd have to make sure that Byorke knew who he was, 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.800 and he'd do so formally with a letter, a letter 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.360 inside of a package, a package that come hell or 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:55.200 high water, Byorke would open, and by doing so, Byorke 0:11:55.240 --> 0:12:00.000 would learn exactly who he was. And seconds later Borke 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:32.680 will be violently blown to bits. Dark, syrapy and persistent. 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.760 That's how the housing manager at the Hollywood, Florida Vambieran 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:41.600 apartments would describe the substance seeping into the ceiling. If 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.480 there was a smell to it, he couldn't tell. But 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.800 whatever it was, it didn't seem like the substance was 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:52.920 done with the cheap acoustic ceiling tiles. Slowly it persisted 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.280 through the floor from the apartment above and down into 0:12:56.320 --> 0:13:02.200 this concerned tenants apartment. There are those moments in life 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.480 when the world is one way, but then you know 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:07.920 if you open your mouths and say what you're about 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.640 to say, then nothing will ever be the same again. 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.880 The housing manager didn't know exactly what the substance was, 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.480 but he knew that this was one of those moments. 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.160 He had to do it. One phone call and the 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:28.040 police were there in minutes. Ricardo Lopez seen Byorke's Human 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:32.000 Behavior video on MTV three years earlier, and it changed 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:36.600 his life. Byork was an unimaginable beauty to Ricardo, who 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:42.720 even to himself was an unimaginable beast. Eighteen, extremely overweight, 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:46.760 and hopelessly unable to speak to girls, Ricardo had to 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:50.800 some extent already given up on the world. A Uruguayan 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.480 immigrant and helpless mama's boy whose mother lived on another 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:59.079 continent in his home country, Ricardo's life consisted of unsteady 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:03.840 work with his older brother's Southeast Florida extermination company, Miami Mice, 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:07.720 and increasingly locking himself away in his tiny Van Buren 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:12.960 apartment and obsessing over celebrities. Ricardo saw himself as a 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.520 celebrity someday, not as an artist. Though he did paint 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.520 and illustrate and wasn't without talent, he did not see 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:22.880 art as his ticket to fame, but simply as a 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.960 way to occupy his hands. In his overactive mind, no 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:31.000 celebrity would come to him by other means. Ricardo had 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.840 no desire to accomplish anything in exchange for his fame. 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:36.680 He just wanted to be famous for the sake of 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:43.840 being famous. MTV, tabloid magazines nineteen ninety, celebrity culture in general, 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:49.120 red carpets, gossip disguised as entertainment news shows. Ricardo Lopez 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.680 lived for all of it. More and more. He saw 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.160 himself as a part of this machine, alongside some of 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.920 the biggest names in Hollywood. Bruce Arnold sly naturally that 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.600 Ricardo needed a celebrity girlfriend. At first, he settled on 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:09.120 Geena Davis. She was adorable, if not terribly original. But then, 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.600 upon seeing Byorke blast across his television screen one night, 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:19.560 Ricardo Lopez fell in love. B York has been an obsession. 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:29.000 Look at his beautiful face, as cute, innocent, sweet and 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.520 shy thing. Ricardo poured his love into the pages of 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.200 his diary, hundreds of pages detailing the endless appeal of 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:41.040 the Icelandic songstress, pure as the Nordic snow. Buorke's beauty 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.320 promised just as much as God does on the first 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:47.160 day of Spring. In one day, Ricardo's love would be 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.520 reciprocated Byorke would come to love him the way his 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:54.160 mother did, but differently, in the way that Ricardo imagined. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:58.160 Only artists can love, tapping into the same deep reservoir 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.720 of empathy and sensuality they mind for their work. 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.440 Most people are puckelol, just me being one of them. 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.040 If you look around you, I'm a piece of shit, okay, 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.800 how dirty, sloppy, fat, disgusting. Okay, I'm a piece of shit. 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:19.400 But celebrity giveth and celebrity taketh away. January nineteen ninety six, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:23.600 Ricardo's Entertainment Weekly arrived in the mail. At first, the 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:27.080 magazine sat untouched on his makeshift plywood desk, amid the 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:31.920 squalor in his small apartment, dirty styrofoam takeout containers, sticky 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:37.320 empty soda cans, filthy clothes, paint supplies, old newspapers, trash bins, 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:41.400 overflowing wet towels hanging over various pieces of cheap furniture, 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.280 all of it barely masking the layer of real filth 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.800 below it, all covering his entire living space, and on 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:54.680 the walls numerous paintings, drawings, and posters of Byork captured 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.680 in what Ricardo Lopez believed were better days, because, as 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:03.280 his Entertainment Weekly had just informed him, Bjork had changed 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:09.920 these days. Byork was dating a black man, the producer 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:14.080 in DJ Goldie. And there they were, right there out 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.800 on the town and the pages of his magazine. Look 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.199 at the way he dressed. What the hell is that 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.720 all about? Didn't Goldie have any class? Didn't he know 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:24.840 he was the luckiest man on the planet to be 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:28.359 on the arm of such a pure soul. But Bjork 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:34.080 was no longer pure. B York was damaged. This was 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:38.440 a betrayal that Ricardo was certain Buyorke could never recover from. 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:43.040 After this, after being with this man, with Goldie, the 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:47.400 purity was gone, and Goldie knew it, and now Ricardo 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:51.159 knew it. And now Ricardo had to make sure that 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:56.040 Buorke knew it. So Ricardo took his pen to paper. 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:00.679 He found Bjork's London address and wrote Byork countless letters, 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.320 and not one of them was returned. And this further 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:08.800 fueled Ricardo's rage. After all, he'd given her the best 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:12.199 of him. Why wouldn't she acknowledge him? Why wouldn't she 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:16.040 write back? Did she think she was better than him? 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.600 And there was that old song Murder. He said it 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.120 was the B side to the original version of It's 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:25.439 Oh So Quiet, the song Buorke covered and released on 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.439 her second album. The actress Betty Hutton first recorded the 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.520 American version back in nineteen fifty one, Murder. He said 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.040 the song. Buorke must have heard that song, and that 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:41.040 song was this situation that Ricardo now found himself in. 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.600 In that song, the singer makes fun of the man 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.880 pursuing her. The singer thinks her suitor is beneath her 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.120 because of the way that he talks. Murder, he says, 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:53.199 like some classless buffoon, not knowing how to converse in 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:54.320 polite society. 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:55.679 That's what this was. 0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:01.119 Buorke, the celebrity, Buyork, the famous artist, York, the stylish 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:05.080 white songster was fashionably dating the black DJ thought Ricardo, 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.560 the part time exterminator, he was the classless buffoon in 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.280 this situation, and that must have been it, just like 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.760 that old song. Yes, just like that. He was beneath her. 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:19.800 But how could she think that way? Byorke didn't know him. 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.560 Byorke didn't know what made him think the way he thought, 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:25.960 or love the way he loved. How could she she 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:28.840 didn't return his fucking letters? Did she even read them? 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.520 Did she even care at all about him? Why? Why 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:37.440 didn't she return his letters? Ricardo Lopez slipped into madness 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:42.760 and thought murder. He said, Okay, then one final letter 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:48.880 to my love. I am are old angel of death 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:54.320 for her. The authorities thanked the housing manager for making 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.119 the call and politely asked him to vacate the premises, 0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:59.720 but not to go too far in case they needed 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:03.400 him for anything else. The lead crime scene investigator saw 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.439 the video camera set up in Ricardo's apartment, and he 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:09.840 immediately delegated a junior officer to start reviewing the tape 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:11.640 to get to the bottom of just what the fuck 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:13.879 it was that had happened in this hell hole of 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.960 an apartment over the past few days. In no time, 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.919 the authorities discovered on that tape a reality far worse 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.879 than the horror show they were currently standing. Smack dab 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.600 in the middle of. One of the camera's videotapes revealed 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.399 that Ricardo Lopez had indeed drafted one final letter to 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.960 his love to the international pop star Buyork, and that 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:37.920 Ricardo Lopez had placed that letter in a box which, 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.879 upon opening would trigger an explosive device that would spray 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:47.760 deadly sulfuric acid all over Byorke's face. Before this happened, though, 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:51.000 Buorke would know from the letter in the box who 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:54.680 Ricardo Lopez was, and that was the point she had 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:58.000 to know before Buorke died. She had to know who 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:00.879 he was. And now it was only a matter of 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.640 time before that happened, because that letter and that letter 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:08.320 bomb that package was on its way via international mail 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.520 the Buork's London apartment, and it would arrive and no 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:13.159 more than four days. 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:21.280 We'll be right back after this. 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:22.680 We're, we're, we're. 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.280 What you're about to hear is the actual audio from 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.600 Ricardo Lopez and the moments before mailing his letter bombed 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:33.120 to B York. 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:36.080 Package. 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:41.240 Package will be sent to her when she is there. 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:44.440 Okay, she's going to receive the package. 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:51.919 Oh. On September twelfth, nineteen ninety six, Ricardo Lopez mailed 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:56.320 his package bombed to B York USPS Express mail takes 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:58.560 about three to five days to deliver a package from 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.119 Southeast Florida to London, England, aside from a gig at 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:05.920 Webley Stadium. On September thirteenth, nineteen ninety six, New York, 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:07.840 was not scheduled to be anywhere but home in her 0:22:07.880 --> 0:22:10.639 London apartment with her young son. Over the course of 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:15.440 the next week, the clock was ticking. Florida police, who 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:17.640 had discovered the existence of the bomb and pieced together 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:22.120 its intended target across the pond, notified New Scotland Yard. Immediately, 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:27.120 New Scotland Yards sprung into action. A specialist operations group 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:30.280 is assembled to counter this potential crime of terrorist obsession. 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:33.439 The only problem was that at the moment, with the 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:36.600 package in transit, there was little investigators could do to 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:40.760 thwart this deadly threat except wait and pray. With the 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:43.080 package tucked away in a cargo plane high above the 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:46.439 Atlantic Ocean, authorities went to work and forming local London 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:49.439 mail sorting stations of the situation and what type of 0:22:49.440 --> 0:22:51.879 package to be on the lookout for. They did not 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:56.040 inform Byork. Authorities were confident they'd locate and destroy the 0:22:56.080 --> 0:23:00.720 deadly package long before it reached its destination. Decided, for 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:03.080 the time being, anyway, that there was no need to 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:06.720 notify Byork of the impending danger. If any pesky journalists 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:09.080 or paparazzi were to find out, it would be a 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:14.480 much bigger, much harder to control public crisis. For now, 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:18.679 the situation seemed contained, but time was of the essence. 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:23.200 After her Wembley Stadium gig, Byork settled into her cozy 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:25.400 apartment with her son for a couple of days off, 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:29.040 investigators got a lead on which plane the package might 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:32.520 be arriving on. A bomb squad was dispatched to heathrow 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:39.160 An Airport. The plane was surged and nothing. No sign 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:43.280 of the package, no sign of a bomb. At the 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:46.240 same time, Byork and her son went about their daily 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:51.240 routine in her apartment, oblivious, completely unaware of the threat 0:23:51.400 --> 0:23:57.320 against her life. You see all that damage, that's sulfuric, guys, 0:23:58.040 --> 0:24:02.439 ninety six percent. I burned myself a little bit in 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:04.560 the tongue because I wanted to fight blue. And this 0:24:04.640 --> 0:24:06.640 is so your guests, that that was diluted big. 0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:10.840 Ten with water. Instantly it touched me. Now I washed 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:13.159 it off real good. It takes time. 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:15.840 For this shit to burn, at least a minute. 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:17.440 To do some serious davenue. 0:24:20.800 --> 0:24:24.600 New Scotland Yard dispatched investigators to London sorting stations where 0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:28.159 mail passed through on its way to Byork's neighborhood. The 0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:30.639 package was now either on a truck heading from the 0:24:30.680 --> 0:24:34.160 airport closer to a sorting station, or in the mail 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:38.360 bag of a postal worker on its way to Byork's house. Finally, 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:42.280 authorities moved to inform Byork, but as of yet there 0:24:42.359 --> 0:24:46.280 was no confirmation that Buorck had actually been contacted. It 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:49.920 was just before four pm on September sixteenth, nineteen ninety six, 0:24:50.560 --> 0:24:53.760 not quite tea time at Byork's, but it was time 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:54.960 to check the mail. 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:14.040 All all. 0:25:22.840 --> 0:25:27.240 September sixties, nineteen ninety six, Bjork and her son remain 0:25:27.320 --> 0:25:30.400 at home, absorbed in the lethargy that a rare off 0:25:30.480 --> 0:25:36.600 day provides, reading, watching films on the projector, listening to music, daydreaming, 0:25:36.920 --> 0:25:42.480 drinking tea. All is calm, All is peaceful. There is 0:25:42.520 --> 0:25:45.840 no hint of the world shattering destruction making its way 0:25:45.880 --> 0:25:50.920 to Bjork's apartment. Out on the streets of London New 0:25:50.920 --> 0:25:54.000 Scotland Yard authorities are frantically trying to weave through traffic 0:25:54.040 --> 0:25:56.600 to get to Bjorg in time before the bomb does 0:25:57.000 --> 0:25:59.879 and warn her of the threat. Authorities have also just 0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:03.000 upon mail sorting stations and are frantically searching for the 0:26:03.040 --> 0:26:08.440 package from Ricardo Lopez. Back in America, US authorities were 0:26:08.480 --> 0:26:16.280 still piecing together Ricardo Lopez's madness. Some people give and 0:26:16.359 --> 0:26:19.760 some people take. Ricardo Lopez felt that he had given 0:26:19.800 --> 0:26:22.679 the best of himself to Byork and she'd taken plenty 0:26:22.720 --> 0:26:27.719 and given back nothing. This was, of course insanity. Buorke 0:26:27.800 --> 0:26:30.719 had no idea who Ricardo Lopez was, or that he'd 0:26:30.760 --> 0:26:33.360 been trying to contact her, or that he felt aggrieved 0:26:33.400 --> 0:26:35.720 in any way, and had she known any of this. 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:38.800 She was under no obligation to give Ricardo Lopez anything. 0:26:39.800 --> 0:26:43.680 In fact, Byorke had given plenty. She was an artist, 0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:47.359 a prolific artist, not some charlatan who worked her way 0:26:47.440 --> 0:26:50.480 up the creative arts ladder of success and manufactured pap 0:26:50.560 --> 0:26:53.760 for shock value, fabricating headline news every couple months to 0:26:53.840 --> 0:26:56.760 keep the journalists and paparazzi hooked in order to maintain 0:26:56.800 --> 0:27:01.960 a certain level of relevance. Instead, York was constantly creating. 0:27:02.520 --> 0:27:04.840 She constantly walked through the world, thinking about the next 0:27:04.840 --> 0:27:06.800