In a story of life imitating art that Oscar Wilde could be proud of (or probably cringe at, more likely), it appears that someone may have taken cues from AMC’s hit show Breaking Bad when he attempted to dispose of a dead body in a giant tub of acid.
Earlier this month, the body of 33-year-old Regan Jolly was found in a plastic tub in a garage in Nine Mile Falls, Washington. She was nude and partially submerged in sulfuric acid. Shortly after, her boyfriend, 27-year-old Jason Hart, was arrested a charged with first-degree murder.
Now, Hart isn’t the first person to put a body in acid nor is everyone who puts a body in acid clearly inspired by Breaking Bad – but here’s where the connections begin.
Apparently, police found Breaking Bad DVDs in Hart’s DVD player.
Plus, Dean Settle, Hart’s roommate who found the grisly scene, told KTVB that Breaking Bad was Hart’s absolute favorite.
“The only thing I know or feel about it – that was his favorite series,” he said. “That’s what he told me. I think he used it as instructions to go do what he was doing to dispose the body.”
Minor spolier here, but in season one of Breaking Bad, Walt and Jesse must dispose of a body. Walt instructs Jesse to buy a plastic tub in order to dissolve the body in acid – but Jesse deviates from the plans and simply attempts to dissolve it in a bathtub. Well, hydrofluoric acid doesn’t dissolve plastic – but it dissolves a lot of other things. What happens next is, well, gross.
Adding to the Breaking Bad connections, apparently Hart had just purchased a chemistry book prior to the murder. His parents also told Washington’s King 5 News that their son was addicted to meth.
Here’s the Breaking Bad scene that authorities think may have inspired Hart. Maybe that’s why he went with a plastic tub in the garage instead of a ceramic bathtub.
Despite the temptation to make some link between violence in media and reality (don’t do it, it’s just dumb) – there’s only one real takeaway here. Don’t murder people. Murdering people is awful, no matter how you do it. And stop trying to imitate TV shows. Just stop.