Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.
The legend of the cocaine bear — the black bear who died after eating pounds of cocaine in Georgia — began with an infamous Lexington police officer who operated outside the law.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 1985, retired engineer Fred Myers woke up to find a body in his Knoxville, Tennessee, driveway. He also found a duffel bag filled with guns, knives, night vision goggles, $4,800 cash, gold and about 77 pounds of cocaine…