Police in Boise, Idaho, announced Wednesday they had identified the "Unknown Wanderer," a man found dead in a church in 1982, and revealed a surprising possible connection to the still-unsolved
.Investigators with the Ada County Sheriff's Office
asserted
they → announce → Office
said they cannot place the man in the Chicago area during the final week of September 1982, when the poisonings happened, and they are not naming him as a suspect.
asserted
they → say → suspect
But they laid out a trail of evidence that includes a hand-drawn map of Chicago, photos of him in the Chicago area and a bottle of homemade cyanide.
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that → lay → cyanide
They have shared that evidence with Chicago police.
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They → share → police
The mysterious death of a mysterious man
On Dec. 4, 1982, a man was found dead in Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Boise.
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man → find → Boise
He had no name and no identification.
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He → have → name
His wallet was empty, but sweat marks showed where cards had once been placed.
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cards → show → ?
He had an ink marker, a lighter, a Seiko wristwatch, a leather belt with a distinctive buckle, wore a bolo tie made with turquoise and silver, had two keyrings with nearly 30 keys between them and an envelope with $1,900 in $100 bills.
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He → have → bills
He also had a typed note signed William L. Toomey, which police determined had been a fake name.
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police → have → note
His fingernails were finely filed, his hair dyed and styled, and his pants had either never been worn or were freshly pressed.
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pants → file → ?
He had a deep, even tan, the kind police said comes from living somewhere warm, and did not appear to have been living in the streets.
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police → have → streets
Investigators worked the case for years.
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Investigators → work → years
His fingerprints did not match anything on file in Idaho or with the FBI.
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fingerprints → match → FBI
They traced his bolo tie to a silversmith in the Southwest, but that didn't produce a name.
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that → trace → name
A 1990 episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" featuring the case generated thousands of tips but no real leads.
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episode → feature → tips
Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford said detective Frank Richardson worked the case for decades until he retired.
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he → say → decades
In 2019, Tim Cooper, a detective with 24 years on the job, reopened the case.
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Cooper → reopen → case
He would be the one to find the break.
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He → find → break
Key evidence: How they identified the wanderer
Cooper explained in a news conference Wednesday that while examining the nearly 30 keys that the wanderer had on him when his body was found, he discovered one that had a marking indicating it came from a hardware store in Jacksonville, Florida.
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it → identify → Jacksonville
Cooper also spotted an etching on that key that had been previously misidentified and appeared to have been made with a sharp instrument.
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that → spot → instrument
Investigating the marking and etching led Cooper to a street in Jacksonville called Mills Court.
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Investigating → investigate → Jacksonville
He got the property deeds from the late 1970s and 1980s, and noticed that one property was owned by a man who had been reported dead in 1989.
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who → get → 1989
Cooper found his sole surviving family member, a brother living in Los Angeles, who confirmed his brother had lived in Jacksonville until he went missing in 1982, and had been declared dead in absentia years later.
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he → find → absentia
Investigators compared the brother's DNA with DNA from the wallet and found a conclusive match showing the two men shared a father.
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men → compare → father
The Unknown Wanderer, Cooper said, was Dr. Matthew Francis Betkouski.
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Cooper → say → ?
A privileged man with a preoccupation with poison
Betkouski came from a prominent Los Angeles family, investigators said.
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investigators → come → family
His grandfather had been president of the Los Angeles City Council and at times served as interim mayor.
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grandfather → serve → mayor
Betkouski had a documented fascination with chemistry and explosives from a young age and struggled with mental illness throughout his life, Cooper said.
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Cooper → have → life
A traumatic brain injury in 1974 worsened his mental illness and caused "some of his problems to manifest in more concerning ways than they had before," Cooper said.
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Cooper → worsen → ways
Betkouski moved to Jacksonville in 1975 to work for a flavors and fragrances company.
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Betkouski → move → company
Coworkers there reported him to management for talking about how to commit the perfect crime with poisons, and for talking about suicide, Cooper said.
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Cooper → report → suicide
Betkouski's paranoia grew more pronounced during that time, and coworkers sometimes saw him talking to himself, investigators said.
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investigators → grow → himself
In 1978, he returned to Los Angeles for two months of inpatient and outpatient mental health care.
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he → return → care
When he came back to Florida, he was fired from his Jacksonville jobs.
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he → come → jobs
After his mother died in 1979, Betkouski spent more than a month in psychiatric treatment at a Florida state hospital, and likely at other places in the state, investigators said.
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investigators → die → state
Betkouski's personal writings from those years show he was preoccupied with managing schizophrenia and depression, and with the possibility of achieving euphoria through "imaginary thoughts of violence."
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he → show → violence
In late 1979, Lockheed hired Betkouski to work at its test facility in White Sands, New Mexico.
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Lockheed → hire → Sands
Fellow scientists there recalled him talking about how poison could be introduced into capsules of over-the-counter medication.
uncertain
poison → recall → medication
Lockheed fired Belkouski in March 1982 after an altercation at a local pharmacy, investigators said.
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investigators → fire → pharmacy
He allegedly tried to get pills or capsules "for an experiment."
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He → try → experiment
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
