Michel de Montaigne once wrote that obsession is the wellspring of genius and madness. If today’s story isn’t a flawless example of that, then I don’t think there’s ever been one. It’s almost a cliché that genius is often tinged with something dark. Geniuses do tend to be obsessive people, and surely by now we true crime fans have seen what obsession can do to human morality. It can squash it like a bug, more or less. In the story we’re about to tell you, obsessive genius crashes head-on into naïve idealism, and eleven years later, the people who witnessed it are still picking the shrapnel out of their hair.

Sources: https://torontolife.com/city/todd-howley-the-killer-inside-muskoka/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/algae-at-centre-of-mysterious-crime/article29578436/ ID’s “A Lie to Die For,” episode “Killer Inventor”

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