Dinosaur 13 (2014) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The federal government claimed Sue had been excavated from federal land, not private land. Maurice Williams, the landowner, had placed the parcel under trust with the U.S. government in 1969, meaning he was required to obtain government permission before selling any discoveries from that land. This legal technicality allowed the FBI and National Guard to seize the skeleton despite their lack of expertise in fossil preservation.

• federal government
• seizure
• fossil
• land ownership
• FBI

After the initial handshake agreement where Maurice received $5,000 from the Black Hills Institute, he later altered his claims stating he had never actually sold Sue. This change occurred as the media frenzy grew and the legal battle intensified, ultimately contributing to the decade-long court dispute over ownership.

• Maurice Williams
• ownership dispute
• handshake agreement
• sale claim

After the Black Hills Institute was found guilty on thirteen charges (five misdemeanors and eight felonies) related to illegal fossil trading, Pete Larson faced appeal. Only two felony charges were upheld against him, yet the judge assigned him two years in prison for transgressions that typically merited only a six-month term, a sentence widely viewed as surprisingly harsh.

• Pete Larson
• prison sentence
• appeal
• felony charges

Following the 1993 trial ruling that nullified the sale and awarded ownership back to Maurice Williams, he decided to auction the fossil through Sotheby's. This decision transformed Sue from a scientific discovery into a commodified museum exhibit, leading to her transport 1,800 miles to New York City for the auction.

• Sotheby's auction
• Maurice Williams
• ownership
• sale

In November 1993, charges were filed against the Black Hills Institute for 153 counts of illegal fossil trading. The prosecution later argued that the team had unlawfully acquired fossils from public lands and sold them, allegedly contributing to money laundering activities. The jury ultimately found the institute guilty on thirteen of these charges.

• Black Hills Institute
• illegal fossil trading
• charges
• money laundering

Despite being the paleontologist who led the team that discovered Sue and dedicated years to her extraction and preservation, Pete Larson was not invited to the grand unveiling in 2000. This exclusion occurred even though the Chicago Museum, with backing from McDonald's and Walt Disney, had purchased Sue for $7.6 million at auction.

• Pete Larson
• Sue unveiling
• exclusion
• Chicago Museum

Maurice Williams received $5,000 from the Black Hills Institute for the right to display Sue through a simple handshake agreement with no formal documentation. This lack of written contract became a critical issue when the legal battle erupted, as it made it extremely difficult to prove the terms of the original sale in court.

• handshake agreement
• contract
• documentation
• legal proof

After the FBI and National Guard seized Sue despite lacking fossil preservation expertise, the Black Hills team lent their knowledge to assist in her transport to Rapid City. She was kept secure in a shipping container at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology during the unfolding legal circumstances.

• transport
• Rapid City
• shipping container
• preservation

The decade-long legal battle involved multiple parties including the FBI, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Maurice Williams. Complications arose from unclear land ownership records, Maurice changing his claims about the sale, government investigations into illegal fossil trading, and subsequent appeals after the initial verdicts.

• legal battle
• decade
• appeals
• government agencies

Although the jury found the Black Hills Institute guilty on thirteen charges, the verdict was described as a moral victory for the institute. Many viewed the prosecution's approach as unjust, especially given that the charges stemmed from complexities in land ownership laws that the team had reasonably believed they were complying with.

• moral victory
• verdict
• prosecution
• injustice

Prior to Sue's discovery in 1990, only twelve T. Rex fossils had been found in the badlands of South Dakota, each averaging less than 40% complete. Sue's skeleton being approximately 80% complete made her the largest and most complete T. rex specimen ever discovered, a landmark find in paleontology.

• 80% complete
• T. rex fossil
• completeness
• significance

At the Sotheby's auction, Sue was sold for $7.6 million to the Field Museum in Chicago, with financial backing from corporate sponsors McDonald's and Walt Disney. After three additional years of preparation, Sue was finally unveiled to the public in 2000 and has since attracted millions of visitors.

• Field Museum
• Chicago
• $7.6 million
• auction
• McDonald's
• Disney