Cocaine Bear True Story: The Facts Behind The Pablo Eskobear Movie

Cocaine Bear, Elizabeth Banks’ latest project, is set to be the most surprising movie of 2022. Details are still scarce on exactly what the plot of this movie will be, except that it is based on a true story that happened in Kentucky and Georgia in 1985. The movie will presumably follow the real events behind the Cocaine Bear and how it came to be.

The project is still in the preliminary stages of production, so little has been announced about the Cocaine Bear story or cast aside from its description as “a character-driven thriller.” However, with the title and pitch of Cocaine Bear, Banks is unlikely to need much more to pique viewers’ interest. As far as true stories go, few are as wild and unexpected as the saga of the Cocaine Bear, sometimes called Pablo Eskobear.

The plot may be based around the ill-fated drug smuggler who set the events in motion. However, a more absurdist take could focus on the bear itself and its run-in with massive amounts of cocaine. Another possible angle could explore the cocaine-related mystery it left behind. Eager would-be fans will have to wait for future announcements to bear out those theories.

Banks will direct Cocaine Bear and could possibly appear in it, though the true story centers around a man and a bear wrapped up in cocaine smuggling. It all started with a smuggling trip gone wrong and a bear who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The True Story Behind The Cocaine Bear

Andrew Carter Thornton did not always have a career as a drug smuggler. In fact, he was a narcotics officer on the Lexington, Kentucky police force. He resigned from the force to practice law in 1977, but sometime in the interceding years, he wound up working on the other side of the narcotics trade. By 1980, a federal indictment alleged he was a member of a smuggling ring involving other police officers. He was arrested and charged multiple times for smuggling drugs and weapons and attempting to steal weapons from a naval base. Unfortunately for one bear in particular, that was not the end of his smuggling career.

As is always the case for the inspiration of a crime thriller, something went wrong. Thornton planned a daring drug smuggling operation in which he would fly over the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia, throw duffle bags of cocaine into the forest below, and then parachute down himself, but his parachute did not open. His body was found in a driveway in Tennessee, still carrying 77 pounds of cocaine. Authorities then started to find cocaine dropped in the forest, but the last duffle bag eluded them for two months. As it turned out, a black bear found it first.

The Fate of Pablo Eskobear

When the authorities finally tracked down the last bag of cocaine, they found it completely empty, missing the 75 pounds of cocaine worth approximately $15 million that was supposed to be inside of it. At the same spot, they found a dead bear who had overdosed on cocaine. This story quickly earned the bear the nicknames “Cocaine Bear” and “Pablo Eskobear,” after the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Further investigation, though, revealed another mystery.

The black bear died of a long list of causes: cerebral hemorrhage, respiratory failure, heart failure, stroke, hyperthermia, and renal failure, among others. Its stomach was completely full of cocaine. No living being was made to consume that much cocaine at one time. However, the autopsy revealed that the bear only had four grams of cocaine in its blood. It could not possibly consume all 75 pounds, especially when even a small portion of a pound could cause its catastrophic organ failure. Millions of dollars of cocaine had gone missing.

The bear itself was stuffed, as apparently the cocaine overdose had left its remains in good condition. The bear changed hands several times until it was purchased for a tourist attraction in Lexington, Kentucky, where the story began with Andrew Thornton, and Pablo Eskobear is still displayed there alongside a warning about doing drugs.

What Happened To The Rest Of The Cocaine?

The Cocaine Bear ranks among the strangest true crime inspiration, but the story is still partly unsolved. The remaining cocaine vanished, leading many people to pin the entire crime on the unfortunate Pablo Eskobear. On top of his overdose, he bears undeserved blame for the disappearance of millions of dollars in drugs. Since he consumed less than a pound, over 74 pounds were unaccounted for. Since authorities only found one bear who had reached its cocaine limit, a less furry culprit had to be responsible.

One of Thornton’s partners may have returned to find it, or a hiker may have accidentally stumbled upon the valuable find in the forest. The drug enforcement officer on the case, however, speculated that the disappearance was more natural. Packages for the cocaine were still there, so the drugs may have been scattered over the forest and dissolved in snowfalls during the two-month search.

The Cocaine Bear and the missing cocaine are not the only true story of strange rural disappearances, but the real incident still fascinates tourists and will soon captivate moviegoers. Elizabeth Banks’ movie may attempt to fill in the blanks of what happened to the rest of the cocaine, though Banks’ story may center more on a conflict with a heavily drugged bear than the real story likely did. The real Cocaine Bear probably would have been able to do much before succumbing to overdose.

There are several potential angles Cocaine Bear may take on its wild true story, ranging from the comic absurdity to the tragedy of a crime that ended badly for both the humans and bears involved. Either way, Cocaine Bear is sure to only get more interesting as more details about the plot are released, and the wait is unbearable.

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