This Professor’s PRICELESS 380-Million-Year-Old Fossils Were Tossed in Tennessee TRASH!
A university’s unpaid shipping bill led to the destruction of irreplaceable prehistoric treasures, now buried in a Nashville landfill. 🌐 #News #NashvilleTN #Tennessee #WeirdNews
NASHVILLE, TN — When paleontologist Martin Becker packed up his life’s work at William Paterson University last summer, he never dreamed his precious cargo would end up buried in a Nashville, Tennessee landfill instead of reaching its Florida destination. And I thought my Amazon delivery driver was bad!
Ancient Treasures Lost Forever
The environmental science professor’s collection, representing nearly two decades of painstaking research, included roughly 200 marine fossils dating back 380 million years.
These remnants of prehistoric life, gathered from New Jersey’s High Mountain, formed what experts considered the most comprehensive collection of marine fossils ever found in Northern New Jersey.
Payment Problems Lead to Prehistoric Disaster
According to the lawsuit filed against the university, the catastrophe unfolded after Becker carefully packed his fossils into 19 boxes on June 18, 2024.
He entrusted them to the campus mailroom supervisor, Raymond Boone, for shipping to a research colleague in Florida.
But the precious cargo never made it south. Instead, a series of administrative blunders allegedly sent the irreplaceable specimens to their final resting place – a Tennessee garbage dump.
The Trail of Mishaps
When weeks passed without the fossils arriving in Florida, Becker launched an investigation.
After numerous calls, he finally obtained tracking information in late August, showing the packages hadn’t left New Jersey.
By September, he learned the shocking truth: UPS had intercepted the shipment because William Paterson University’s account had been canceled months earlier over unpaid bills.
The university’s shipping account had reportedly been suspended since April 24, with Boone allegedly aware of the issue by July 8. Despite this, the lawsuit claims Boone continued reassuring Becker he was addressing the situation.
Legal Battle Begins
Becker’s lawsuit accuses both the university and Boone of negligence, claiming they failed in their duty to safeguard his valuable collection. The suit also questions Boone’s fitness for his position and the university’s judgment in employing him. Becker seeks compensation for his lost fossils and medical expenses related to emotional distress.
As this matter proceeds through legal channels, all parties named in the lawsuit are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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RELATED TOPICS: Florida | Lifestyle | Tennessee | New Jersey
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