Unearthed Remains Shed Light on Long-Lost Individual Following Almost Five Decades
Almost half a century later, American law enforcement solved an enigmatic demise situation. Back in 1977, hikers stumbled upon a frozen corpse inside a cave located in Pennsylvania. They named him the "Rocky Peak Man," after the high point in the Appalachian Mountains close by.
Initially, the medical examiner declared that the unfortunate soul had suffered an excessive drug overdose. However, there were no hints of misconduct, and the body's identification was impossible based on features, attire, or belongings. Dental impressions and a fingerprint were taken during the post-mortem examination, but the fingerprint was eventually misplaced, as investigator George Holmes detailed in a CNN broadcast.
What took another 42 years? In 2019, the remains were dug up following hints from dental records connecting it to two missing person cases from Florida and Illinois. Forensic experts from Berks County collected DNA samples, but they didn't offer a match with the missing persons, according to WFMZ.
Solved by Ancient Documents
This year, detective Ian Keck finally cracked the code. The Pennsylvania State Police investigator discovered the long-lost fingerprint in dusty records and submitted it to the FBI's national missing person database in mid-August.
Within an hour, FBI fingerprint specialists identified a match, as coroner Holmes announced at a press conference. The "Rocky Peak Man" turned out to be Nicholas Paul Grubb, a 27-year-old native of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Grubb's military records showed that he had served and received an honorable discharge in 1971. The Berks County coroner reached out to a family member, who acknowledged Grubb's identity and petitioned for his remains to be buried within their family plot.
"This identification brings peace to his family," CNN cited Berks County coroner John Fielding. "They were notified and expressed profound gratitude for the united efforts that led to this result. Moments like these underscore the value of our role—providing answers, delivering closure, and giving life to the nameless and untold story."
The discovery of the match in the FBI's database led investigators to an unexpected connection. It was revealed that Nicholas Paul Grubb, the identified individual, was a citizen of the European Union, having served in the military of one of its member states.
This revelation sparked interest among EU law enforcement agencies, as they started to investigate possible reasons behind Grubb's departure from Europe and subsequent disappearance in the United States.
