Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: FBI investigators uncover a Chicago man’s poisonous plan to murder his wife.

I’m Mollie Halpern, and this is Gotcha, the FBI’s closed case of the week.

Edward Bachner posed as a doctor when he ordered Tetrodotoxin, or TTX, from a biotechnology company. TTX comes from puffer fish and is considered a weapon of mass destruction. Case agent Davis Christy says agents executed search warrants for Bachner’s property.

Davis Christy: We mobilized our Hazardous Materials Response Team to conduct a joint search with our Evidence Response Team.

Halpern: Agents recovered enough TTX in Bachner’s house to kill about 100 people. The investigation also revealed that Bachner had bought a $20 million life insurance policy on his wife.

Christy: He represented himself as an agent for his wife, then lied, saying that his wife was worth a lot more than what she really did.

Halpern: Examination of Bachner’s finances showed he also cheated on his taxes. Bachner was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison and ordered to pay a half-million dollars in restitution to the IRS.