In 1989, the Chicago PD, Michigan State Police, and the FBI spent over a year investigating the murder of Trent Reznor… Reznor may be the most famous, if not the ONLY, case of a prolonged murder investigation that concluded with its victim still alive.
Trent Reznor is, of course, the singer, producer, and head honcho of famed industrial/hard rock outfit Nine Inch Nails. He and the band were in Chicago with a plan to shoot their first music video for “Down in It”. NIN has gone on to be a preeminent name in the rock scene of the 90s and 2000s, but before the fame, they had to produce the video lo-fi. They hired a multimedia firm and pitched the idea of Reznor trying to outrun some nefarious thugs, played by his bandmates. The idea for the final shot would be Reznor on the pavement smeared in “blood” as the camera pans away. Since the band and the firm weren’t flush with cash to rent a camera crane to create the shot, the directors had to improvise.
They attached a Super-8 camera to a sleeve of weather balloons and let it fly. As Reznor lay on the ground, appearing to have been done in by the thugs that chased him, the weather balloons became dislodged from their set point and floated high into the air. The band and directors gave chase, but the balloons and the camera were long gone.
In Burr Oak, Michigan–144 miles away from Chicago—a farmer found the deflated balloons with the camera attached on his property. He turned it over to the local police. The film inside the super-8 was developed… and the local station placed an immediate call to the Michigan State Police Department.
The film showed two brutish figures standing over a still body with smears of blood on his face… and one person running as fast as they could away from the scene of the crime. The staties got the FBI involved, telling them they had evidence of what looked like a snuff film, or a possible gang affliated murder.
Through thorough examination of the background, authorities were able to determine the “killing” took place in Chicago. But they weren’t able to find out much about the perpatrators or the victim. With time ticking away, and during an age before the internet, the FBI had no choice but to seek help from the public. They produced a series of fliers and spread them across parts of Chicago. Given the young age of the victim, the FBI canvassed local colleges to see if he was a missing student.
Much to their surprise, the tactic worked… in a manner of speaking. In 1991, A student at a local art school saw the flier and recognized the distinctive style of the camera lense and filter, and how it looked a lot like a music video he had just seen on MTV. He put it out of his mind thinking it was just a coincidence, until the video came on again, and he was able to compare the victim on the flier to the frontman in the music video.
The student phoned the authorities and said “You might think I’m crazy, but this guy on the flier looks a lot like Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails”. After explaining who Reznor was, the FBI was in hot pursuit of what happened to the band.
Long story long, it didn’t take the authorities long to catch up with the band… or to realize that Reznor was still very much among the living, though not without a thorough interrogation and confirmation. No charges were filed, and the FBI slunk away with egg on its face. While a spokesperson for the FBI stated there was no regret about pursuing what was on the tape, Reznor went on to tell an interviewer, “Somebody at the FBI has been watching too much [Alfred] Hitchcok or David Lynch or something.”
A Story About Waffles 