Fourteen Vials in the River: How Osmium Walked Out of Campus Cold, precise, and worth roughly $12,000 per gram, a set of 14 sealed lab vials of osmium-187 washed up eleven miles downstream from a university-no paperwork, no chain of custody, and an inventory system that showed no alarm. Who turned a climate-controlled repository into an open door, and why did the system fail to notice a multi-thousand-dollar disappearance? In this episode, we follow the chain of calls, camera footage, and inventory logs that tied a fisherwoman’s discovery on March 4, 2019, to campus swipe records, a facilities technician, and a prior unexplained shortfall-asking whether the loss was a counting error, institutional blind spot, or something more deliberate. Person: Nicole Harris Date: March 4, 2019 Location: Selle River, eleven miles downstream from Alderman University Person: Dawn Wells Item: Osmium-187, 14 vials - Nicole Harris found 14 sealed polyethylene vials on the bank after hauling in a fishing line on March 4, 2019. - A gram of osmium-187 was valued at about $12,000 according to the repository records. - CHEM-TRACK recorded 41 swipes for Sandra Vo in fall 2018, of which she could only account for 22. - Campus camera archive retained 11 footage files showing a man in a gray facilities uniform entering the repository without badging in. - Hendricks Hall reported a missing 4.2 grams of rhenium-185 at the end of 2017 that was recorded as a counting error. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
