Eleventh Hour s01e14 Episode Script
Minamata
It looks like we have some breaking news out of Highway 894.
Terry Gillman, our traffic reporter, joins us live with the latest.
Terry? Hello in the studio.
Are you guys getting this? This guy's hauling through traffic, heading southbound on the 894, doing at least 100.
The real problem is he's driving on the northbound side of the highway.
Well, Terry, we can see that a police copter is in hot pursuit, but are there any ground units pursuing this guy? No.
Ground units broke off when the suspect decided to use a freeway exit as a freeway onramp.
This guy is crazy.
Whoa! Oh, my God! Did you guys just see that?! Oh, man.
Oh, let's, uh hope, uh, uh, whoever is is in in the, uh is is in the other other car lives lives to, um Oh There's something wrong with him.
TV News Helicopter, this is Milwaukee Police Air Control.
You are dropped into restricted airspace.
Request you immediately climb to 10,000 feet and hold.
Oh, I can't There's something wrong with Terry.
Uh, Terry, can you see anyone moving out of either vehicle? Are there any signs of life down there? I can't I can't see.
My eyes There's something wrong with my eyes.
I can't I can't I can't see.
I can't Um.
Help me.
Uh I'm I'm blind! Did he just say he was blind? Terry, are you okay? TV News Helicopter, this is Milwaukee Police Air Control.
You are on a collision course with Police Air pursuit.
Turn immediately and vector 3-0-0-7 and climb to 10,000 feet.
turn immediately and climb.
- I can't see.
I I can't see! - Turn immediately and climb.
Cut the feed! I said, cut the feed! Are you looking for someone? The director assigned a trainee to cover preliminaries and provide support for this investigation.
An agent by the name of Lee? Lee.
Kind of big guy? Enthusiastic? You know him? Think I'm about to.
Hey.
Dr.
Hood.
Agent Young.
Hi.
I'm Felix Lee.
Uh oh I know what both of you guys are thinking.
Really? Tell us.
Dr.
Hood, you're wondering why the director would burden you with some rookie agent at the head of a very serious case.
Well, why would he? Funny you should ask.
I know I don't have much field experience.
And science not exactly MIT.
The whole tactical training bit wasn't really my bag.
So, what do you do? Recon.
I'd have to say recon.
It's easy for me 'cause I'm real good at blending in.
I'm like a mouse.
A 6'6" mouse.
Hmm.
Exactly.
What was Agent Young thinking? Why I didn't flash my FBI badge until now.
Okay, so, what do we have here? Well, the pilot's name was Terence Gillman.
Reportedly suffered a loss of vision right in the middle of a live news broadcast.
Anyone on the ground when he crashed? No.
That's the only good news, actually.
The pre-crash footage was all over YouTube.
Think that where the director saw it.
Yeah.
Prior to joining the, uh, news team here, Gillman flew for the FBI as part of the Hostage Rescue Team.
The director served with HRT.
Yup.
And Gillman saved his life not once, but twice.
Well, that explains why we're here.
Solving this case just became personal.
So, Gillman was in perfect health, and without warning, his sight goes.
Yeah.
I'm thinking river blindness.
Caused by those nasty little nematodes that can live in the human body for up to 15 years.
Wikipedia.
River blindness? Um, those nasty little nematodes are fairly common in, uh, Western Africa.
Not really likely Milwaukee.
Did we get anything from the autopsy? Body was toast.
It was practically cremated.
Oh.
So it will be pretty hard to identify any other symptoms.
Oh.
There was this.
Yeah.
He was married.
I found it in the crash sight.
We need to talk to his wife.
Here.
She would want that.
I know I would.
Let's hope she's the only widow we have to speak to while we're here.
Terry loved that job so much, so much.
For the last five years, he never missed a morning commute.
You know, it's funny.
He wasn't even supposed to be working last night.
They just called him in to cover the chase, and We're sorry for your loss, Mrs.
Gillman.
I need to know what happened, please.
We believe Terry suffered from something called, uh, rapid onset blindness.
It's a very rare condition.
Need to ask you.
Did he complain recently of, uh, poor vision or headaches? Nothing.
He would have told me if something were wrong.
Maybe he didn't want you to worry? Terry took the responsibility of being a pilot very seriously.
And he would have never flown if he felt that he were impaired in any Oh! Are you okay? Yes.
Just pregnant.
I never thought that I would be raising a baby by myself.
It's not fair.
I want to have my husband back! I You'll let me know if you find out anything? I promise.
Thank you.
What now? We find out from Mr.
Gillman if he had any more symptoms.
You can talk to dead people? Remarkable.
He was on TV every day for the last five years, remember? Well, eastbound I-94 is really gonna put a wrench in this morning's commute What exactly are we looking for? Any, uh, indication that he was sick Well, good luck.
In the three years I knew Terry, he never caught so much as a cold.
It's gonna be a rough one out there, folks.
In a bizarre twist, a few lanes are blocked by chickens who apparently fell off a delivery truck How long were you Terry's assistant? Three years.
Couple months ago, I got promoted to junior reporter.
It never would have happened without Terry's help.
God.
His poor wife.
She must be heartbroken.
You and Erica are friends? Yeah.
We got thrown together at a couple of office parties, but we decided we liked each other.
She must feel so alone right now.
This is really helping.
Thank you, Debbie.
So, if I were to give you any advice That's the third time he's adjusted the volume on his headset in two minutes.
Maybe the roar of the engine was too loud? Well, why's he turning the volume down? Could be, uh, hyperacusis.
It's, uh, extreme noise sensitivity.
Scratching his neck.
Why is that odd? Well, it's odd if you have an itch in the same place for three days.
Could be, uh, dermatitis.
Deie, was the cabin, uh, climate-controlled? Yeah.
That's why I never flew with him.
He liked it arctic.
He kept the air conditioning at 65.
Freeze that, please.
Well, you can add hyperhidrosis to the list.
Sweating when it's cold, right? Yup.
My God.
Why didn't I notice this? No.
If he didn't notice, why would you? Um, what was the date of the first broadcast where we see Terry's symptoms? The Monday before last, so, two weeks ago.
It narrows the timeframe.
Yeah.
Excuse me.
Yeah? I was the first person he told.
About them being pregnant.
He was so thrilled to become a dad.
911 just dispatched an ambulance to Erica Gillman's house.
- Terry's wife? - She's blind.
Dr.
Nayar, I'm Jacob Hood.
This is Rachel Young.
We're with the FBI.
Oh, Dr.
Hood, yes.
Hi.
How's, uh, Mrs.
Gillman and her baby? They're doing okay.
I-I have to say, I've never seen this before.
She suffered spontaneous blindness, but nothing in her medical history relates to it.
Her husband had the same thing, and it cost him his life.
What tests did you run? Every diagnostic panel I could think of.
They're shots in the dark, huh? Exactly right.
So far, we just can't make the connections.
Oh, you should know that there's been a flurry of patients with really strange combos of symptoms.
Really? Such as? Pins and needles; numbness in their hands and feet; a lack of muscle coordination.
Skin rashes? Memory loss? Yeah.
What are you thinking, Hood? Can you give me uh, a specific example? Well, um, this morning a traffic cop came in.
He was having trouble writing tickets.
Also had a bad rash.
And this afternoon a woman was complaining of numbness in her feet.
We're testing her for Buerger's disease.
Minamata.
Minna who? All the symptoms point to it.
Minamata it's a it's a city in Japan, and it's kind of where the real dangers of heavy metal poisoning were first discovered.
This chemical plant, they dumped a load of methyl mercury into the bay, and it poisoned the sea life, which was the town's main food source and it devastated the population.
I'll begin targeted hair and blood analysis.
If it is mercury poisoning, we'll know within the hour.
Thanks.
We appreciate that.
Where would people be exposed to mercury here? I don't know.
That's what we're here to find out.
Before this town ends up like Minamata.
Yeah, that place.
Hey! Hey! Oh, hi.
Hey, what are you doing? Hey, how you doing? Not good.
You know what that does to the ecosystem around here? I'm sorry.
You're sorry? You will be.
Once I give you a $500 ticket.
$500? 500 bucks.
Come on, man! You're killing me.
Maybe next time you'll think about what you're killing, "man.
" Analysis of Erica Gillman's hair indicated a mercury level of 2.
9 parts per million, almost six times the normal range.
My other patients have similar mercury levels.
Certainly enough to prove mercury poisoning.
Is it treatable? With chelation therapy.
We inject a binding compound to collect any heavy metals, then the body excretes them naturally.
The treatment should work.
For the other patients, maybe, but not for Erica Gillman.
I don't understand.
If you know what's making me blind, why can't you fix it? In most cases, the chemical used in chelation therapy is safe.
Most cases? It's not safe if you're pregnant.
Erica, right now the mercury in your system is being passed through the placenta to your developing fetus.
With every minute that passes, the danger of serious complications multiplies.
My baby is sick? The sooner we stop the, uh, baby's exposure to the toxins, the better.
Erica, I need your permission to perform an emergency C-section.
I'm in my second trimester.
My baby won't survive.
Preemies as young as 23 weeks have gone on to live normal healthy lives.
Give me a percentage.
Every case is different.
I don't care about every case.
What are the chances that my baby will survive? 10 to 15%.
Erica, before you make your decision, you need to know that without intervention, you and your baby will get much, much sicker.
The only way to treat you effectively, is to treat the two of you separately.
I've lost my husband.
I won't lose my child, too.
You understand? We're bringing in a diagnostic team from the EPA to help with this investigation.
Well, we're going to need it.
Identifying the mercury was the easy part.
Finding the source that's gonna be difficult.
- Any ideas? - Ah, well, the upside of what happened in Minamata is it was fairly contained.
But nowadays, the way the food supplies are, it could be up and down the country very quickly.
Then how serious a health risk are we talking here? Well, I think from a few isolated cases to a full-fledged epidemic.
Well, with only four cases so far, let's keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way.
Excuse me.
I had a mercury advisory issued to all the local hospitals like you asked.
And every patient with the appropriate symptoms is being tested.
It's not pretty.
They've already identified 25 new cases.
Six in the last hour alone.
So much for keeping our fingers crossed.
We have to find the source.
Otherwise, what happened in Minamata's gonna be like the best case scenario.
Where do we start? I'm thinking, a little of something the science community calls immersive garbalogy.
Oh, yeah Cool.
What's that? Gillman on the address.
Got another one.
Hood, you can tell your friends in the science community that immersive garbalogy sucks.
Hey, Doc, isn't mercury used in thermometers? Used to be.
They don't use mercury anymore.
I'm pretty sure as a kid, my mama put those things in places mercury definitely should not go.
Yeah, well, even if they didn't have toxic mercury in their house as a permanent fixture maybe they just had to pass through it once.
Something they already ate or drank in large quantities? Yeah, but those other 25 victims weren't all hanging out at the Gillmans, were they? No, probably not.
But, uh, there's got to be some kind of common thread.
You Officer Walter Barrett? Hi.
The traffic cop who had trouble writing tickets.
And had the weird rash.
Uh, yeah, that's me.
Nice to meet you, Officer.
I hear your toxicity levels aren't as high as some of the others.
But if you start to feel nauseous or sick in any way, just let us know.
Will do.
So, how can I help? Well, as we go through this trash, if you see anything that you ate or drank in the last couple of weeks, you just tell us, okay? Peanut butter? No, I'm allergic to peanuts.
My head swells up like a watermelon.
Mayonnaise? Ew, never touch the stuff.
All those preservatives give you Alzheimer's.
Well, the Gillmans sure like their milk.
Lake Fresh.
I use that in my coffee.
How many times a day? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and every hour in between.
Prevents gout.
Well, if there is toxic mercury in this milk, the compound on the swab should find it pretty quickly.
It's positive.
Felix, call the Health Department, have them issue an immediate recall on all Lake Fresh dairy products.
I'm on it.
Officer Barrett.
Doesn't the milk industry have safeguards in place to stop something like this from happening? Yeah, sure it does, but it doesn't normally include testing for heavy metals.
We can get the remaining stock off the shelves but what about the milk that's already been sold? - I don't know.
- Okay.
Lake Fresh has, uh, two local bottling plants.
They're shutting down production.
We need to investigate both.
We should split up.
This guy's all through traffic heading southbound on the 894 doing at least a hundred.
The real problem is he's driving on the northbound side of the highway.
Ground units broke off - Hey, baby.
- Hey.
How you doing? All right.
I'm just putting together a memorial segment for Terry.
Oh, yeah.
I'm sure it'll be amazing.
Oh, um, I know I told you I'd be done with that wetlands pollution piece by the end of the week, - but it's just - It's okay, honey.
- I can't.
- Don't worry about that, all right.
This is more important.
Thank you for understanding.
I just wish I just wish there was something I could do.
Something I could say.
I'll be okay.
I just, um I just miss my friend.
I know you do.
Agent Lee, here's the primary results.
Thank you.
It's Agent Lee.
We could use some good news, Felix.
Sorry, Lake Fresh East is clean.
The equipment is anyway.
Some of the milk is testing positive for mercury, but it is not coming from this plant.
Lake Fresh West is negative, too.
So, the milk was tainted before it got to Lake Fresh? Where does that leave us? Well, the victims that drank the, uh, poisoned milk, they're the final link in the food chain.
Processing pnts they prepare their raw product for distribution they're in the middle.
But it all begins with the dairy farms and the cows that supply the fresh milk.
There have got to be, what, at least a dozen dairy farms in this area.
26, actually.
But according to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture's database, only one supplies milk to both Lake Fresh facilities.
And during the farms, all right, I'm forwarding the coordinates to your onboard GPS, Agent Young.
Thanks, Felix.
I didn't know you could do that.
Afternoon.
Something I can help you with? I need a refrigerator.
Something old.
Right this way.
I got a bunch of 'em over here.
How much for this one? Uh, you don't want that piece of junk.
The compressor's shot and the coils are rusted through.
Better to repair it than buy a new one, right? I'm big on recycling.
A sale's a sale.
Come on back.
I'll write you up.
Cash or charge? Oh, I prefer cash.
Works for me.
I already told you, my girls are healthy.
This is quite a large barn for such a small amount of cattle.
What happened to the rest of your cattle? I sold off some head to raise cash.
Huh.
The ones I kept produce more than enough milk to make my quota.
You expanding your dairy to something more agricultural? Looks like that field's just been plowed.
Rachel will you give Felix a call? Something I need him to grab for me.
Holy cow.
Look, I know how you must be feeling.
Did I tell you I come from a family of farmers? - Really? - Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, third generation.
And with the economy the way that it is, it's impossible to not cut corners, am I right? So, uh, you understand.
Oh, I understand.
You did what you had to do, right? Right? They were losing weight, staggering around a lot.
I figured it was mad cow disease.
I was really scared.
I euthanized them last week.
Your cow didn't have mad cow disease.
They had mercury in their systems, which went directly into the milk.
Well, how could I have known that? You knew they were sick, and that's when you're supposed to call the health department.
But instead, you just covered it up.
I was protecting my livelihood.
- I was looking out for my family! - Really? What about the families who drank the milk? Look, I don't think I should say anything else until I talk to a lawyer.
You're going to need one.
Take him into custody.
This way.
Three generations of farming? Well, now we know how the mercury found its way into the milk.
But not how it found its way into the cows.
Every inch of this farm has to be tested the feed, the grass, the water.
Turn everything over.
From the head to the heel is 11 inches.
Does everything look okay? The baby's heart and lungs are developing normally, so far.
It's your heart I'm worried about.
The longer you wait to treat this, the more stress is put on all your vital organs.
Erica, I don't want to lose both of you.
But you said the baby looked good.
Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing whether the mercury is affecting him at this time.
But, Erica, with the levels in your system, the chances are, it will affect him.
The question is how much.
Wait a minute.
You said him affecting him? Is is it a boy? Yes.
You're having a baby boy.
Okay, so far we've run trace metal screens on the storage silos, feed troughs, and the cattle feed itself all negative for mercury.
Jacob Hood.
Yeah, did you run the simulation with a lower dose? Okay.
Well, thanks for trying.
What was that about? It's the head of obstetrics at Johns Hopkins.
I thought maybe a low-dose chelation regimen might help out Erica's baby.
That didn't sound like a yes.
No, it wasn't.
You know, Doc, when you're behind a desk, victims are just names on a computer.
Out here it's different.
How do you deal with people who've lost so much? Um to tell you the truth, Felix, I haven't really worked that one out yet.
Hood.
We checked out Breen's remaining livestock.
All clean.
Well, that means the infected cows ate something the others didn't.
Well, the remains have been sent out for stomach content analysis, but it'll take time.
Well, till we get the results, all the local dairy farms are going to have to be quarantined.
Isn't there a faster way to figure out what those cows ate? Faster? Yeah.
Oh, don't tell me we're dumpster-diving again.
We don't really have to.
You're kind of standing in it.
Oh, crap! You know, contrary to popular belief, cows do not have four stomachs, but they do have four digestive compartments.
Girls must love you.
I do all right.
This is interesting.
What? What's that? What? Let me see.
What the hell is that? It's fish bones.
Fish bones? Yep.
I thought cows were vegetarian.
Well, they may think they are.
But farmers have been supplementing their feed with meat by-products for years.
And the cheapest one is fishmeal.
Well, we need to find out the name of this fishmeal distributor.
If other farms are still using it, dairy products could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Nailed it! Tests confirm the Fishmeal Breen got from here is our source.
This is what the cows were eating.
Blue Fleet's wastewater is laden with mercury.
Notify every cattle farm and feed house that bought from them in the last 60 days.
I've already got disposal teams out handling collection.
Agent Lee, exactly what kind of fish does Blue Fleet process? Uh, mostly menhaden and lake herring.
Herring? I don't really like fish.
You know that, uh, Three Stooges movie, where Curly swallows that fish whole, in the X-ray you can see it swimming around his ribs? Freaked me out.
Anyway, there's, uh, not really many kinds of fish that can carry dangerous levels of mercury.
It's only really predators like, um, swordfish, and sharks.
Big fish that eat other big fish.
I doubt we'll find swordfish or sharks in the Great Lakes.
So, how'd the mercury find its way into the little fish? Lake Michigan is huge.
It's bigger than some countries.
There's no way we can search all of it.
You don't have to.
Someone's done it for us.
Let's see if we can find more seagulls.
The handy thing about gulls is they'll eat anything.
So, if they've been feeding on tainted herring there's going to be signs.
What kind of signs? Tremors, ruffled feathers, droopy eyelids, um violent behavior.
Roll your window up! Wow.
You folks okay? Yeah, thanks to you.
Rachel, I think we really need to get to the source before it turns up somewhere else in the food chain.
Oh, thanks for the, uh by the way, it's How long have you been with the Department - of Fish and Wildlife? - Long enough to see the number of species facing global extinction raise to 16,000.
The evidence that we're killing our planet keeps piling up and we keep ignoring it.
It's frustrating.
The only time the federal government takes notice is when their bottom line is threatened.
We're not the enemy, officer.
- Is this your transmitter? - Yeah.
We use them to track the bird's breeding and migratory patterns.
Rachel this is why we're here.
If these sick gulls are feeding from tainted herring, we can use this to lead us to the source.
So the GPS data from the bird transmitter narrowed our search to five square miles.
This sonar will find any, uh, foreign debris on the lake floor that could be poisoning the herring.
What was that? Only one way to find out.
Gas masks on.
Yeah, that's, uh, that's liquid mercury.
Ugh.
Are those maggots? Yeah.
Well, that'd certainly have the effect of luring the fish toward the mercury.
What's the glass from? It's a barometer.
ah.
Old barometers had glass servoirs filled with pounds of liquid mercury.
That's right Wikipedia? This sure as hell wasn't an accident.
Someone could be out there right now dumping more of this.
I think I know how to find him.
Liquid mercury is classified as a hazardous material.
So if you wanted to buy this much - of it without a license, you'd - Just get a truckload of mercury-filled antiques with cash.
From a dealer who won't ask - too many questions.
- Exactly.
Ooh, yeah, wow.
That was that was a beautiful thing.
Okay, let's get every available field agent from here to Detroit canvassing antique stores and local online dealers.
Felix find out who those barometers were sold to.
It's the hospital.
Erica suffered a generalized seizure.
The uterine contractions triggered a drop in the fetal heart rate.
Well, if nothing is done, she'll lose the baby and her life will still be in jeopardy, so delivery is now the only option.
Yeah, she still won't give consent.
Well, can you blame her? She's facing the toughest decision of her life.
And she can't even ask her husband about it.
Then if I, I don't induce, my baby will die? Is that for sure? There's always exceptions, but, uh, no, it doesn't look good.
If I make the choice and I fall on the wrong side of the percentage, I'm always going to wonder if I Not a great bet, is it? No no.
Can I ask you something? Sure, anything.
What would you do? If it were your wife? If it were my wife.
Huh? You know what? I think I'd say to hell with the science, just go with your heart.
Agent Young.
How is she? About to make the hardest decision of her life.
She's having the baby.
They've got to induce.
I'll tell Dr.
Nayar.
So what now? We wait.
Excuse me, ma'am, official FBI business.
So, in the last six weeks, local antique shops have sold more than 30 mercury-filled barometers, thermostats, and thermometers.
The parts recovered from the refrigerator account for only half of them.
So that's over 200 pounds of mercury unaccounted for.
Who bought the antiques? A man using the name of Lars Saunderski.
He left a phone number with several dealers so they could call him when more barometers came in.
The phone number traced back to a disposable cell phone and the name doesn't exist.
Um actually, yes, it, it does, uh Larus saundersi it's the Latin name for the Saunder's gull.
Huh.
It's an endangered species.
Okay, so who in the hell uses an endangered bird as an alias? Sorry, do you mind me asking your, um, necklace.
Couldn't help noticing it's, uh, it's beginning to oxidize.
There isn't a chance that anyone, uh, been handling mercury could have, uh, touched that, is there? I mean, uh, you don't know anyone who works for the Department of Fish and Wildlife or anything? Uh, my husband.
He gave me this necklace last week.
Your husband.
That would count.
Debbie.
You, you shouldn't be here.
What's in there, Ben? Tell me you didn't poison all those people.
It was the only way to get their attention.
The toxic effects of mercury They're reversible.
Terry died And his wife could, too, and their baby.
I didn't mean for that to happen.
Oh, my God.
Ben.
What did you do? I did this for us, for the baby we're going to have someday and for, for their children, too.
My God, Debbie, th Th-This planet is under attack and nobody cares! But I do.
I mean, I'm I'm actually trying to fix it.
Do you know how crazy you sound? No, aren't you the one who's always telling me that the only time people sit up and take notice is when something tragic happens? Well that's what I give them, honey.
This is front page news.
Debbie, come on.
Debbie.
Let me explain.
There's nothing more to explain, Mr.
Finney.
You're coming with us now.
I did what I thought was right, and when there's no fish and no forests You'll wish you hadn't stopped me.
You killed someone.
I'm not sorry I stopped you.
Freeze! Whoo yeah.
Ben Finney, you are under arrest.
How's the baby doing, Doctor? Strong.
Like his mom.
Hey.
So We recovered the last of the antiques from Finney's storage unit.
You add to that what we got off his boat.
Looks like we got it all.
Okay, so, um, the lake should clean itself within a couple of months, and that's, uh Well, thank you very much for all your help, Felix.
Please, don't mention it.
Oh, so I guess that's it.
Yep, this is it.
Okay, Agent Young.
Agent Lee.
Dr.
Hood.
See you around.
You know, uh, I could hang around if you guys wanted.
That's something that I would consider if you asked.
But just know there are several other posts at the Bureau who have expressed interest in what it is that I bring to the table and what I do.
Really? That's weird 'cause I spoke to the director and he said that you begged for this assignment.
Yeah, he did say that.
Director said that? Quite specifically.
Okay, well, I'm just going to be honest with you guys, then.
I think that the work that you guys do is awesome.
Thank you very much.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just had to see it for myself.
Can I stay? Um I don't know.
Rachel, what do you think? It's your call.
I guess I can deal with him.
You're not going to make me regret this, are you, Felix? What Doc, please.
It's the Three Musketeers, one nation under a groove, baby.
That's kind of what I mean.
Terry Gillman, our traffic reporter, joins us live with the latest.
Terry? Hello in the studio.
Are you guys getting this? This guy's hauling through traffic, heading southbound on the 894, doing at least 100.
The real problem is he's driving on the northbound side of the highway.
Well, Terry, we can see that a police copter is in hot pursuit, but are there any ground units pursuing this guy? No.
Ground units broke off when the suspect decided to use a freeway exit as a freeway onramp.
This guy is crazy.
Whoa! Oh, my God! Did you guys just see that?! Oh, man.
Oh, let's, uh hope, uh, uh, whoever is is in in the, uh is is in the other other car lives lives to, um Oh There's something wrong with him.
TV News Helicopter, this is Milwaukee Police Air Control.
You are dropped into restricted airspace.
Request you immediately climb to 10,000 feet and hold.
Oh, I can't There's something wrong with Terry.
Uh, Terry, can you see anyone moving out of either vehicle? Are there any signs of life down there? I can't I can't see.
My eyes There's something wrong with my eyes.
I can't I can't I can't see.
I can't Um.
Help me.
Uh I'm I'm blind! Did he just say he was blind? Terry, are you okay? TV News Helicopter, this is Milwaukee Police Air Control.
You are on a collision course with Police Air pursuit.
Turn immediately and vector 3-0-0-7 and climb to 10,000 feet.
turn immediately and climb.
- I can't see.
I I can't see! - Turn immediately and climb.
Cut the feed! I said, cut the feed! Are you looking for someone? The director assigned a trainee to cover preliminaries and provide support for this investigation.
An agent by the name of Lee? Lee.
Kind of big guy? Enthusiastic? You know him? Think I'm about to.
Hey.
Dr.
Hood.
Agent Young.
Hi.
I'm Felix Lee.
Uh oh I know what both of you guys are thinking.
Really? Tell us.
Dr.
Hood, you're wondering why the director would burden you with some rookie agent at the head of a very serious case.
Well, why would he? Funny you should ask.
I know I don't have much field experience.
And science not exactly MIT.
The whole tactical training bit wasn't really my bag.
So, what do you do? Recon.
I'd have to say recon.
It's easy for me 'cause I'm real good at blending in.
I'm like a mouse.
A 6'6" mouse.
Hmm.
Exactly.
What was Agent Young thinking? Why I didn't flash my FBI badge until now.
Okay, so, what do we have here? Well, the pilot's name was Terence Gillman.
Reportedly suffered a loss of vision right in the middle of a live news broadcast.
Anyone on the ground when he crashed? No.
That's the only good news, actually.
The pre-crash footage was all over YouTube.
Think that where the director saw it.
Yeah.
Prior to joining the, uh, news team here, Gillman flew for the FBI as part of the Hostage Rescue Team.
The director served with HRT.
Yup.
And Gillman saved his life not once, but twice.
Well, that explains why we're here.
Solving this case just became personal.
So, Gillman was in perfect health, and without warning, his sight goes.
Yeah.
I'm thinking river blindness.
Caused by those nasty little nematodes that can live in the human body for up to 15 years.
Wikipedia.
River blindness? Um, those nasty little nematodes are fairly common in, uh, Western Africa.
Not really likely Milwaukee.
Did we get anything from the autopsy? Body was toast.
It was practically cremated.
Oh.
So it will be pretty hard to identify any other symptoms.
Oh.
There was this.
Yeah.
He was married.
I found it in the crash sight.
We need to talk to his wife.
Here.
She would want that.
I know I would.
Let's hope she's the only widow we have to speak to while we're here.
Terry loved that job so much, so much.
For the last five years, he never missed a morning commute.
You know, it's funny.
He wasn't even supposed to be working last night.
They just called him in to cover the chase, and We're sorry for your loss, Mrs.
Gillman.
I need to know what happened, please.
We believe Terry suffered from something called, uh, rapid onset blindness.
It's a very rare condition.
Need to ask you.
Did he complain recently of, uh, poor vision or headaches? Nothing.
He would have told me if something were wrong.
Maybe he didn't want you to worry? Terry took the responsibility of being a pilot very seriously.
And he would have never flown if he felt that he were impaired in any Oh! Are you okay? Yes.
Just pregnant.
I never thought that I would be raising a baby by myself.
It's not fair.
I want to have my husband back! I You'll let me know if you find out anything? I promise.
Thank you.
What now? We find out from Mr.
Gillman if he had any more symptoms.
You can talk to dead people? Remarkable.
He was on TV every day for the last five years, remember? Well, eastbound I-94 is really gonna put a wrench in this morning's commute What exactly are we looking for? Any, uh, indication that he was sick Well, good luck.
In the three years I knew Terry, he never caught so much as a cold.
It's gonna be a rough one out there, folks.
In a bizarre twist, a few lanes are blocked by chickens who apparently fell off a delivery truck How long were you Terry's assistant? Three years.
Couple months ago, I got promoted to junior reporter.
It never would have happened without Terry's help.
God.
His poor wife.
She must be heartbroken.
You and Erica are friends? Yeah.
We got thrown together at a couple of office parties, but we decided we liked each other.
She must feel so alone right now.
This is really helping.
Thank you, Debbie.
So, if I were to give you any advice That's the third time he's adjusted the volume on his headset in two minutes.
Maybe the roar of the engine was too loud? Well, why's he turning the volume down? Could be, uh, hyperacusis.
It's, uh, extreme noise sensitivity.
Scratching his neck.
Why is that odd? Well, it's odd if you have an itch in the same place for three days.
Could be, uh, dermatitis.
Deie, was the cabin, uh, climate-controlled? Yeah.
That's why I never flew with him.
He liked it arctic.
He kept the air conditioning at 65.
Freeze that, please.
Well, you can add hyperhidrosis to the list.
Sweating when it's cold, right? Yup.
My God.
Why didn't I notice this? No.
If he didn't notice, why would you? Um, what was the date of the first broadcast where we see Terry's symptoms? The Monday before last, so, two weeks ago.
It narrows the timeframe.
Yeah.
Excuse me.
Yeah? I was the first person he told.
About them being pregnant.
He was so thrilled to become a dad.
911 just dispatched an ambulance to Erica Gillman's house.
- Terry's wife? - She's blind.
Dr.
Nayar, I'm Jacob Hood.
This is Rachel Young.
We're with the FBI.
Oh, Dr.
Hood, yes.
Hi.
How's, uh, Mrs.
Gillman and her baby? They're doing okay.
I-I have to say, I've never seen this before.
She suffered spontaneous blindness, but nothing in her medical history relates to it.
Her husband had the same thing, and it cost him his life.
What tests did you run? Every diagnostic panel I could think of.
They're shots in the dark, huh? Exactly right.
So far, we just can't make the connections.
Oh, you should know that there's been a flurry of patients with really strange combos of symptoms.
Really? Such as? Pins and needles; numbness in their hands and feet; a lack of muscle coordination.
Skin rashes? Memory loss? Yeah.
What are you thinking, Hood? Can you give me uh, a specific example? Well, um, this morning a traffic cop came in.
He was having trouble writing tickets.
Also had a bad rash.
And this afternoon a woman was complaining of numbness in her feet.
We're testing her for Buerger's disease.
Minamata.
Minna who? All the symptoms point to it.
Minamata it's a it's a city in Japan, and it's kind of where the real dangers of heavy metal poisoning were first discovered.
This chemical plant, they dumped a load of methyl mercury into the bay, and it poisoned the sea life, which was the town's main food source and it devastated the population.
I'll begin targeted hair and blood analysis.
If it is mercury poisoning, we'll know within the hour.
Thanks.
We appreciate that.
Where would people be exposed to mercury here? I don't know.
That's what we're here to find out.
Before this town ends up like Minamata.
Yeah, that place.
Hey! Hey! Oh, hi.
Hey, what are you doing? Hey, how you doing? Not good.
You know what that does to the ecosystem around here? I'm sorry.
You're sorry? You will be.
Once I give you a $500 ticket.
$500? 500 bucks.
Come on, man! You're killing me.
Maybe next time you'll think about what you're killing, "man.
" Analysis of Erica Gillman's hair indicated a mercury level of 2.
9 parts per million, almost six times the normal range.
My other patients have similar mercury levels.
Certainly enough to prove mercury poisoning.
Is it treatable? With chelation therapy.
We inject a binding compound to collect any heavy metals, then the body excretes them naturally.
The treatment should work.
For the other patients, maybe, but not for Erica Gillman.
I don't understand.
If you know what's making me blind, why can't you fix it? In most cases, the chemical used in chelation therapy is safe.
Most cases? It's not safe if you're pregnant.
Erica, right now the mercury in your system is being passed through the placenta to your developing fetus.
With every minute that passes, the danger of serious complications multiplies.
My baby is sick? The sooner we stop the, uh, baby's exposure to the toxins, the better.
Erica, I need your permission to perform an emergency C-section.
I'm in my second trimester.
My baby won't survive.
Preemies as young as 23 weeks have gone on to live normal healthy lives.
Give me a percentage.
Every case is different.
I don't care about every case.
What are the chances that my baby will survive? 10 to 15%.
Erica, before you make your decision, you need to know that without intervention, you and your baby will get much, much sicker.
The only way to treat you effectively, is to treat the two of you separately.
I've lost my husband.
I won't lose my child, too.
You understand? We're bringing in a diagnostic team from the EPA to help with this investigation.
Well, we're going to need it.
Identifying the mercury was the easy part.
Finding the source that's gonna be difficult.
- Any ideas? - Ah, well, the upside of what happened in Minamata is it was fairly contained.
But nowadays, the way the food supplies are, it could be up and down the country very quickly.
Then how serious a health risk are we talking here? Well, I think from a few isolated cases to a full-fledged epidemic.
Well, with only four cases so far, let's keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way.
Excuse me.
I had a mercury advisory issued to all the local hospitals like you asked.
And every patient with the appropriate symptoms is being tested.
It's not pretty.
They've already identified 25 new cases.
Six in the last hour alone.
So much for keeping our fingers crossed.
We have to find the source.
Otherwise, what happened in Minamata's gonna be like the best case scenario.
Where do we start? I'm thinking, a little of something the science community calls immersive garbalogy.
Oh, yeah Cool.
What's that? Gillman on the address.
Got another one.
Hood, you can tell your friends in the science community that immersive garbalogy sucks.
Hey, Doc, isn't mercury used in thermometers? Used to be.
They don't use mercury anymore.
I'm pretty sure as a kid, my mama put those things in places mercury definitely should not go.
Yeah, well, even if they didn't have toxic mercury in their house as a permanent fixture maybe they just had to pass through it once.
Something they already ate or drank in large quantities? Yeah, but those other 25 victims weren't all hanging out at the Gillmans, were they? No, probably not.
But, uh, there's got to be some kind of common thread.
You Officer Walter Barrett? Hi.
The traffic cop who had trouble writing tickets.
And had the weird rash.
Uh, yeah, that's me.
Nice to meet you, Officer.
I hear your toxicity levels aren't as high as some of the others.
But if you start to feel nauseous or sick in any way, just let us know.
Will do.
So, how can I help? Well, as we go through this trash, if you see anything that you ate or drank in the last couple of weeks, you just tell us, okay? Peanut butter? No, I'm allergic to peanuts.
My head swells up like a watermelon.
Mayonnaise? Ew, never touch the stuff.
All those preservatives give you Alzheimer's.
Well, the Gillmans sure like their milk.
Lake Fresh.
I use that in my coffee.
How many times a day? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and every hour in between.
Prevents gout.
Well, if there is toxic mercury in this milk, the compound on the swab should find it pretty quickly.
It's positive.
Felix, call the Health Department, have them issue an immediate recall on all Lake Fresh dairy products.
I'm on it.
Officer Barrett.
Doesn't the milk industry have safeguards in place to stop something like this from happening? Yeah, sure it does, but it doesn't normally include testing for heavy metals.
We can get the remaining stock off the shelves but what about the milk that's already been sold? - I don't know.
- Okay.
Lake Fresh has, uh, two local bottling plants.
They're shutting down production.
We need to investigate both.
We should split up.
This guy's all through traffic heading southbound on the 894 doing at least a hundred.
The real problem is he's driving on the northbound side of the highway.
Ground units broke off - Hey, baby.
- Hey.
How you doing? All right.
I'm just putting together a memorial segment for Terry.
Oh, yeah.
I'm sure it'll be amazing.
Oh, um, I know I told you I'd be done with that wetlands pollution piece by the end of the week, - but it's just - It's okay, honey.
- I can't.
- Don't worry about that, all right.
This is more important.
Thank you for understanding.
I just wish I just wish there was something I could do.
Something I could say.
I'll be okay.
I just, um I just miss my friend.
I know you do.
Agent Lee, here's the primary results.
Thank you.
It's Agent Lee.
We could use some good news, Felix.
Sorry, Lake Fresh East is clean.
The equipment is anyway.
Some of the milk is testing positive for mercury, but it is not coming from this plant.
Lake Fresh West is negative, too.
So, the milk was tainted before it got to Lake Fresh? Where does that leave us? Well, the victims that drank the, uh, poisoned milk, they're the final link in the food chain.
Processing pnts they prepare their raw product for distribution they're in the middle.
But it all begins with the dairy farms and the cows that supply the fresh milk.
There have got to be, what, at least a dozen dairy farms in this area.
26, actually.
But according to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture's database, only one supplies milk to both Lake Fresh facilities.
And during the farms, all right, I'm forwarding the coordinates to your onboard GPS, Agent Young.
Thanks, Felix.
I didn't know you could do that.
Afternoon.
Something I can help you with? I need a refrigerator.
Something old.
Right this way.
I got a bunch of 'em over here.
How much for this one? Uh, you don't want that piece of junk.
The compressor's shot and the coils are rusted through.
Better to repair it than buy a new one, right? I'm big on recycling.
A sale's a sale.
Come on back.
I'll write you up.
Cash or charge? Oh, I prefer cash.
Works for me.
I already told you, my girls are healthy.
This is quite a large barn for such a small amount of cattle.
What happened to the rest of your cattle? I sold off some head to raise cash.
Huh.
The ones I kept produce more than enough milk to make my quota.
You expanding your dairy to something more agricultural? Looks like that field's just been plowed.
Rachel will you give Felix a call? Something I need him to grab for me.
Holy cow.
Look, I know how you must be feeling.
Did I tell you I come from a family of farmers? - Really? - Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, third generation.
And with the economy the way that it is, it's impossible to not cut corners, am I right? So, uh, you understand.
Oh, I understand.
You did what you had to do, right? Right? They were losing weight, staggering around a lot.
I figured it was mad cow disease.
I was really scared.
I euthanized them last week.
Your cow didn't have mad cow disease.
They had mercury in their systems, which went directly into the milk.
Well, how could I have known that? You knew they were sick, and that's when you're supposed to call the health department.
But instead, you just covered it up.
I was protecting my livelihood.
- I was looking out for my family! - Really? What about the families who drank the milk? Look, I don't think I should say anything else until I talk to a lawyer.
You're going to need one.
Take him into custody.
This way.
Three generations of farming? Well, now we know how the mercury found its way into the milk.
But not how it found its way into the cows.
Every inch of this farm has to be tested the feed, the grass, the water.
Turn everything over.
From the head to the heel is 11 inches.
Does everything look okay? The baby's heart and lungs are developing normally, so far.
It's your heart I'm worried about.
The longer you wait to treat this, the more stress is put on all your vital organs.
Erica, I don't want to lose both of you.
But you said the baby looked good.
Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing whether the mercury is affecting him at this time.
But, Erica, with the levels in your system, the chances are, it will affect him.
The question is how much.
Wait a minute.
You said him affecting him? Is is it a boy? Yes.
You're having a baby boy.
Okay, so far we've run trace metal screens on the storage silos, feed troughs, and the cattle feed itself all negative for mercury.
Jacob Hood.
Yeah, did you run the simulation with a lower dose? Okay.
Well, thanks for trying.
What was that about? It's the head of obstetrics at Johns Hopkins.
I thought maybe a low-dose chelation regimen might help out Erica's baby.
That didn't sound like a yes.
No, it wasn't.
You know, Doc, when you're behind a desk, victims are just names on a computer.
Out here it's different.
How do you deal with people who've lost so much? Um to tell you the truth, Felix, I haven't really worked that one out yet.
Hood.
We checked out Breen's remaining livestock.
All clean.
Well, that means the infected cows ate something the others didn't.
Well, the remains have been sent out for stomach content analysis, but it'll take time.
Well, till we get the results, all the local dairy farms are going to have to be quarantined.
Isn't there a faster way to figure out what those cows ate? Faster? Yeah.
Oh, don't tell me we're dumpster-diving again.
We don't really have to.
You're kind of standing in it.
Oh, crap! You know, contrary to popular belief, cows do not have four stomachs, but they do have four digestive compartments.
Girls must love you.
I do all right.
This is interesting.
What? What's that? What? Let me see.
What the hell is that? It's fish bones.
Fish bones? Yep.
I thought cows were vegetarian.
Well, they may think they are.
But farmers have been supplementing their feed with meat by-products for years.
And the cheapest one is fishmeal.
Well, we need to find out the name of this fishmeal distributor.
If other farms are still using it, dairy products could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Nailed it! Tests confirm the Fishmeal Breen got from here is our source.
This is what the cows were eating.
Blue Fleet's wastewater is laden with mercury.
Notify every cattle farm and feed house that bought from them in the last 60 days.
I've already got disposal teams out handling collection.
Agent Lee, exactly what kind of fish does Blue Fleet process? Uh, mostly menhaden and lake herring.
Herring? I don't really like fish.
You know that, uh, Three Stooges movie, where Curly swallows that fish whole, in the X-ray you can see it swimming around his ribs? Freaked me out.
Anyway, there's, uh, not really many kinds of fish that can carry dangerous levels of mercury.
It's only really predators like, um, swordfish, and sharks.
Big fish that eat other big fish.
I doubt we'll find swordfish or sharks in the Great Lakes.
So, how'd the mercury find its way into the little fish? Lake Michigan is huge.
It's bigger than some countries.
There's no way we can search all of it.
You don't have to.
Someone's done it for us.
Let's see if we can find more seagulls.
The handy thing about gulls is they'll eat anything.
So, if they've been feeding on tainted herring there's going to be signs.
What kind of signs? Tremors, ruffled feathers, droopy eyelids, um violent behavior.
Roll your window up! Wow.
You folks okay? Yeah, thanks to you.
Rachel, I think we really need to get to the source before it turns up somewhere else in the food chain.
Oh, thanks for the, uh by the way, it's How long have you been with the Department - of Fish and Wildlife? - Long enough to see the number of species facing global extinction raise to 16,000.
The evidence that we're killing our planet keeps piling up and we keep ignoring it.
It's frustrating.
The only time the federal government takes notice is when their bottom line is threatened.
We're not the enemy, officer.
- Is this your transmitter? - Yeah.
We use them to track the bird's breeding and migratory patterns.
Rachel this is why we're here.
If these sick gulls are feeding from tainted herring, we can use this to lead us to the source.
So the GPS data from the bird transmitter narrowed our search to five square miles.
This sonar will find any, uh, foreign debris on the lake floor that could be poisoning the herring.
What was that? Only one way to find out.
Gas masks on.
Yeah, that's, uh, that's liquid mercury.
Ugh.
Are those maggots? Yeah.
Well, that'd certainly have the effect of luring the fish toward the mercury.
What's the glass from? It's a barometer.
ah.
Old barometers had glass servoirs filled with pounds of liquid mercury.
That's right Wikipedia? This sure as hell wasn't an accident.
Someone could be out there right now dumping more of this.
I think I know how to find him.
Liquid mercury is classified as a hazardous material.
So if you wanted to buy this much - of it without a license, you'd - Just get a truckload of mercury-filled antiques with cash.
From a dealer who won't ask - too many questions.
- Exactly.
Ooh, yeah, wow.
That was that was a beautiful thing.
Okay, let's get every available field agent from here to Detroit canvassing antique stores and local online dealers.
Felix find out who those barometers were sold to.
It's the hospital.
Erica suffered a generalized seizure.
The uterine contractions triggered a drop in the fetal heart rate.
Well, if nothing is done, she'll lose the baby and her life will still be in jeopardy, so delivery is now the only option.
Yeah, she still won't give consent.
Well, can you blame her? She's facing the toughest decision of her life.
And she can't even ask her husband about it.
Then if I, I don't induce, my baby will die? Is that for sure? There's always exceptions, but, uh, no, it doesn't look good.
If I make the choice and I fall on the wrong side of the percentage, I'm always going to wonder if I Not a great bet, is it? No no.
Can I ask you something? Sure, anything.
What would you do? If it were your wife? If it were my wife.
Huh? You know what? I think I'd say to hell with the science, just go with your heart.
Agent Young.
How is she? About to make the hardest decision of her life.
She's having the baby.
They've got to induce.
I'll tell Dr.
Nayar.
So what now? We wait.
Excuse me, ma'am, official FBI business.
So, in the last six weeks, local antique shops have sold more than 30 mercury-filled barometers, thermostats, and thermometers.
The parts recovered from the refrigerator account for only half of them.
So that's over 200 pounds of mercury unaccounted for.
Who bought the antiques? A man using the name of Lars Saunderski.
He left a phone number with several dealers so they could call him when more barometers came in.
The phone number traced back to a disposable cell phone and the name doesn't exist.
Um actually, yes, it, it does, uh Larus saundersi it's the Latin name for the Saunder's gull.
Huh.
It's an endangered species.
Okay, so who in the hell uses an endangered bird as an alias? Sorry, do you mind me asking your, um, necklace.
Couldn't help noticing it's, uh, it's beginning to oxidize.
There isn't a chance that anyone, uh, been handling mercury could have, uh, touched that, is there? I mean, uh, you don't know anyone who works for the Department of Fish and Wildlife or anything? Uh, my husband.
He gave me this necklace last week.
Your husband.
That would count.
Debbie.
You, you shouldn't be here.
What's in there, Ben? Tell me you didn't poison all those people.
It was the only way to get their attention.
The toxic effects of mercury They're reversible.
Terry died And his wife could, too, and their baby.
I didn't mean for that to happen.
Oh, my God.
Ben.
What did you do? I did this for us, for the baby we're going to have someday and for, for their children, too.
My God, Debbie, th Th-This planet is under attack and nobody cares! But I do.
I mean, I'm I'm actually trying to fix it.
Do you know how crazy you sound? No, aren't you the one who's always telling me that the only time people sit up and take notice is when something tragic happens? Well that's what I give them, honey.
This is front page news.
Debbie, come on.
Debbie.
Let me explain.
There's nothing more to explain, Mr.
Finney.
You're coming with us now.
I did what I thought was right, and when there's no fish and no forests You'll wish you hadn't stopped me.
You killed someone.
I'm not sorry I stopped you.
Freeze! Whoo yeah.
Ben Finney, you are under arrest.
How's the baby doing, Doctor? Strong.
Like his mom.
Hey.
So We recovered the last of the antiques from Finney's storage unit.
You add to that what we got off his boat.
Looks like we got it all.
Okay, so, um, the lake should clean itself within a couple of months, and that's, uh Well, thank you very much for all your help, Felix.
Please, don't mention it.
Oh, so I guess that's it.
Yep, this is it.
Okay, Agent Young.
Agent Lee.
Dr.
Hood.
See you around.
You know, uh, I could hang around if you guys wanted.
That's something that I would consider if you asked.
But just know there are several other posts at the Bureau who have expressed interest in what it is that I bring to the table and what I do.
Really? That's weird 'cause I spoke to the director and he said that you begged for this assignment.
Yeah, he did say that.
Director said that? Quite specifically.
Okay, well, I'm just going to be honest with you guys, then.
I think that the work that you guys do is awesome.
Thank you very much.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just had to see it for myself.
Can I stay? Um I don't know.
Rachel, what do you think? It's your call.
I guess I can deal with him.
You're not going to make me regret this, are you, Felix? What Doc, please.
It's the Three Musketeers, one nation under a groove, baby.
That's kind of what I mean.