The identity of the man, discovered in 1977 by two hikers near the famous Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania, remained a mystery until a police officer found his fingerprints.
A story with the air of Hibernatus by Jean Bernard-Luc. On January 16, 1977, on a cold winter day, two hikers discovered with amazement the body of a frozen man in a cave located under the summit of the Pinnacle, near the Appalachian Trail in eastern Pennsylvania, about 120 km northwest of Philadelphia.
Authorities then took fingerprints from the deceased, described as a man between 25 and 35 years old, with blue eyes and long curly red hair, the New York Times. After an autopsy was performed and no evidence of foul play was found, authorities concluded that it was a suicide by overdose. Since no one came forward afterward, the man nicknamed “The Pinnacle Man” (relative to the place where he was discovered) was buried two weeks later in a cemetery for anonymous people.
But almost half a century later, “The Pinnacle Man” has finally found his name. Identified 47 years after his discovery as Nicholas Paul Grubb, the young man was 27 years old and from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. It was a police officer from that same state who allowed him to find his identity by discovering the fingerprints originally taken from the deceased, which had initially disappeared.
Research resumes 30 years later
In 2009, while “The Pinnacle Man” had been largely forgotten, the Berks County coroner’s office (the officer who investigates the circumstances of an obscure or violent death) became aware of the case and decided to begin a new search. In an attempt to discover the identity of the deceased, investigators relied on copies of his fingerprints as well as his dental records. The original fingerprints were indeed nowhere to be found.
Copies were compared to no fewer than 10 missing persons, but none of them matched the profile of the red-haired young man. Another problem was that the duplicates were too poor quality to be used for identification purposes.
In 2019, authorities exhumed “The Pinnacle Man” in the hopes that his dental records would match those of people who disappeared in 1975, one from Florida, the other from Illinois. But once again, no link could be established with either man.
Found in 53 minutes
The case seemed insoluble until Pennsylvania State Trooper Ian Keck decided to dig through police records in August of this year. He managed to find the original fingerprints, taken during the 1977 autopsy, and forwarded them to NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
An analyst then managed to match the fingerprints of the two in 53 minutes. “The Pinnacle Man” with those of Nicholas Paul Grubb. Grubb was a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in the early 1970s, and spent some time in Colorado. During a police interaction in 1975, his prints were entered into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
At a news conference last week, George Holmes, chief deputy of the Berks County coroner’s office, said that because all of Nicholas Paul Grubb’s immediate family members are deceased, authorities are working with a relative who was able to identify him to have his remains interred in the family grave.
He also said that several things remained unclear, including why he was in the cave. Nicholas Paul Grubb was found wearing light clothing, not at all suitable for the freezing winter. It seems that he was trying to build a fire, but no food or camping equipment accompanied him. “The rest is still a question mark for us”admits George Holmes.
