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Reel Time – Dead Ringers

31.12.69

For years they were the toast of New York. Viewed as veritable fertility gods, gynaecologists Cyril and Stewart Marcus’ pioneering private clinic had given infertile women within the upper echelons of New York society the longed for babies their substantial wealth had, up to that point, failed to buy. Their status as ingenious miracle workers, genuine life givers, made the gruesome discovery in apartment 10H on July 14, 1975 all the more shocking.

Police and a handyman forced the door to find the corpses of the twins amidst rotten food, garbage and countless barbiturate and Demerol capsules. Bottles of fizzy pop, cookies and cartons of ice cream also littered the apartment, as though they had regressed to childhood and had one last party before the end.

Stewart lay face down on the bed wearing only blue-striped shorts and one black sock. He had been dead longer and his face was badly decomposed. Cyril, the tenant of 10H, lay face up on the floor close to the bed. He had not been dead long and wore only black socks and some towelling he had pulled across himself in his final moments. The famous doctors were soon to become infamous. But what had happened?

Source: Little White Lies (blog)