29th President of the United States
1865-1923
Of all the American presidents who died in office, none had more questions surrounding his demise than the 29th President, Warren Harding. After Harding expired in San Francisco on August 2, 1923, the cause of death was ascribed to food poisoning, a determination later changed to stroke. However, many people suspected murder, as Harding had his share of enemies. But the true story behind Harding's death may have gone to the grave with one dogged FVZA Agent.

Investigation: The rumors and suspicions eventually died down as Vermonter Calvin Coolidge assumed the reins of government. But across the country in San Francisco, several unanswered questions continued to nag at FVZA Director Prevost. How had a man bitten by a vampire been able to board a ship carrying the President? And how had that vampire gotten to Harding, who was under full Secret Service protection?

Prevost quietly began his own investigation, interviewing everyone who had been on or around the ship in the days leading up to Harding's death. He learned that the Norwegian shiphand had disappeared two days before the ship's departure from Alaska. A big break came when a witness identified John Scalise and Albert Anselmi, two thugs from the Al Capone crime organization, as leaving the ship the night before Harding was bitten. Prevost began to consider the possibility that Capone had put a hit on the President to preserve his bootlegging operation. But the means of the hit-murder by vampire-didn't match gangster modus operandi. And it still didn't explain how the vampire had gotten to the President.

Then came a stunning announcement from Washington: former Assistant Attorney General Jess Smith had been indicted for accepting bribes from Al Capone. For Prevost, Smith's link to Capone seemed to solve the puzzle of Harding's death. During the trip west, Smith had enjoyed unfettered access to the President, and stood to lose much in Harding's promised purge of corruption. In addition, as assistant head of the Justice Department, Smith had access to the FVZA lab, from which several vials of vampire blood had gone missing shortly before President Harding's trip west. Prevost told FVZA Director Hilton Dickerson of his findings; Dickerson summoned him to Washington, and told to bring along his report.

Prevost left San Francisco for Washington on September 12, 1924, but he never reached his destination. As he stepped off the train in St. Louis, two men with tommy guns burst into the station and opened fire. Prevost was shot 12 times, and died a short time later at a nearby hospital. His report was never recovered.

Eyewitness accounts of Prevost's murderers matched descriptions of Capone hit men Scalise and Anselmi. But before police could question the two men, they turned up dead, riddled with shotgun blasts in a Chicago barbershop.