The Dinosaur Artist by Paige Williams

Author:Paige Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2018-09-10T16:00:00+00:00

In Mongolia, police carried out their own investigation. The government wanted to know Eric Prokopi’s connection to Mongolia and whether he had ever been there. A search of customs records showed that he had visited the country three times. The first time, he had arrived by air on the night of October 23, 2008, departing four days later at around four in the afternoon. The second time, he arrived on the night of June 23, 2009, departing on July 8. The third time, he arrived late at night on July 22, 2011, departing five days later at six in the morning. A search of hotel records showed that on his last trip, he had shared a room with Chris Moore.

In each instance, customs had required him to list the purpose of his visit. “Tourism,” he had written on his second and third visits. But on his initial arrival he had written “private” and provided a local phone number that Tuvshin had told him to use. Investigators traced the number to a former Natural History Museum employee, which led them to the name Tuvshinjargal Maam, which led them to the mint-green building on Peace Avenue. The suspect was many months dead, but his computer still existed, and while it had been scrubbed of data, investigators were able to restore deleted material and discover emails and photos—photos of dinosaur skeletons and of Tuvshin posing with dinosaur skeletons, and emails to Eric and other dealers about the sale of dinosaur skeletons. Bobo, Tuvshin’s wife, was arrested on September 13 and held for at least nine days, but was never charged.

A draft letter also turned up on the computer. It appeared to have been written in the spring of 2008. This would have been just before Eric’s first trip to Mongolia and just before that summer’s deadly post-election riots; it was also the year Mongolia amended its criminal code to toughen punishments for illegally crossing the border with “restricted goods, rare animals… minerals and natural elements.” The letter began, “Dear Butts.” It read, “You told me that you would buy a head of tarbosaur, meat eating dinosaur of any size whether its [sic] small or big as long as it is whole for 40000USD while we were sitting in the coffee room on the first floor of the hotel Chichibi [sic].”

At the meeting, in Japan, on July 12, 2007, “Butts” supposedly had told the author he would buy “hand claw of tarbosaur” for $5,000, as well as three tarbosaur skulls, Gallimimus claws, and a Velociraptor skull. “Following my offer many expeditions went to countryside,” read the letter. They had talked prices: $65,000 for a Velociraptor skeleton, $70,000 for tarbosaur, plus another $20,000 for “ger (tent), custom problem, transportation, and container shipment charge.” When the payments from “Butts” slowed, the Mongolians wanted either the rest of their money or the return of a skull. The letter read, “They assaulted me several times and hurt.”

By now “Butts” owed Tuvshin $37,600, the letter went on. If he wanted to buy more dinosaurs, he would have to come to Mongolia in person and pay half up front.

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