The Berks County Coroner's Office identified a man who was found frozen in a cave below the Pinnacle on the Appalachian Trail in 1977 as Nicolas Paul Grubb, 27, of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.

After nearly 50 years, officials revealed the identity of a man who was found frozen inside a cave along the Appalachian Trail in Albany Township, Pennsylvania.

“For 47 years, this man remained unidentified. A nameless figure in a long-forgotten case," Berks County Coroner John Fielding III said during a press conference on Tuesday, Aug. 27. "But today I’m honored to announce that through the unyielding determination of federal, state and local agencies, the Berks County Coroner’s Office has confirmed the identity of this individual. His name is Nicolas Paul Grubb, a 27-year-old man from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.”

The discovery of the “Pinnacle Man”
On Jan. 16, 1977, around 3 p.m., two hikers found the frozen body of an unidentified man in a cave just below the Pinnacle along the Appalachian Trail in Albany Township, Pennsylvania. The discovery was made during one of the coldest months in Pennsylvania’s history, with an average high of only 8 degrees and a low temperature of 4 below zero, officials said. Snow totals during that winter reached 49 inches.

The man was described as a white male between the ages of 25 and 35 with blue eyes and reddish curly long hair who stood between 5-foot-10 and 5-foot-11 and weighed 155 pounds.

At the time of his death, he had a full beard and a “T” shaped scar on the left side of his chin. He was wearing a size 38 dark brown suede/buckskin jacket with tassels on the sleeves and torso, faded Wrangler blue jeans, a brown leather belt, a brown knit turtleneck sweater, a long winter undershirt and pants, two pairs of socks, ankle length brown leather hiking boots, leather gloves and sunglasses.

He was also wearing a 14-karat white gold ring inset with a blue stone and in his pockets he had a comb, pen, pencil, matches and $1.78.

Officials said there were no obvious signs of foul play. An autopsy was conducted on Jan. 17, 1977, at Reading Hospital. While the autopsy did not specify the time of death, the cause of death was listed as an overdose of Phenobarbital and Pentobarbital and the manner of death was listed as a suicide.

Since no one claimed the man, he was buried in the Berks County Potter’s Field. The case then went cold for decades.

Timeline of the investigation
In August 2009, the man, nicknamed “Pinnacle Man,” was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS) database. A decade later, in April 2019, the database showed two potential matches of men who disappeared from Florida and Illinois. However, they were later determined to not be a match.

While the man’s fingerprints were taken, the original copy of the prints were missing and the quality of the copies was too poor to be used for identification, officials said.

On Aug. 5, 2019, the man’s body was exhumed from Potter’s Field and taken to Reading Hospital, where he was examined by a forensic anthropologist, forensic pathologist and a forensic odontologist. A full forensic dental exam was performed and the man’s NamUS record was updated. Samples were then shipped to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification.

More than two years later, in May 2021, the center contacted the Berks County Coroner’s Office and told them that the samples didn’t produce any results. While the coroner’s office offered to send more samples, the center said they couldn’t do further testing due to a backlog of cases.

In July 2021, the coroner’s office received the samples that had been shipped to Texas and placed them back with the rest of the man’s remains. The man’s body was then stored in the office’s evidence room.

In October 2021, the coroner’s office learned NamUS had moved to a new facility and were preparing to process samples but wouldn’t accept any samples prior to Jan. 2022.

In Nov. 2022, the man’s samples were mailed to the forensic DNA testing service Bode Technology but a match was still not found.

Investigators then tried to perform a facial approximation which failed due to the facial bones being broken or missing during the exhumation process. The Coroner's Office then considered reinterring the remains.

A major breakthrough then occurred in August, 2024. A Pennsylvania State Police cold case detective for Troop L, Reading Barracks, located the man's original fingerprint cards and submitted them to NamUS. On Aug. 12, an FBI fingerprint expert was able to determine a match in less than an hour, identifying the man as 27-year-old Nicolas Paul Grubb of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.

Investigators then contacted Grubb's family member who confirmed his identity and provided documents.

What we know about Nicolas Paul Grubb
Grubb, known by his family members as "Nicky," served in Company C, 1/111th Infantry of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 1971 before receiving an honorable discharge.

Berks County Coroner Chief Deputy George Holmes said officials are still working to learn more about Grubb. They plan to amend his death certificate. Grubb's relatives want his remains to be with the family plot. The Coroner's Office is currently working to bring him home.

​https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/cold-case-pinnacle-man-frozen-cave-appalachian-trail-albany-township-pennsylvania-berks-county/3953239/

​3 years later, murder of Fort Bragg soldier killed on Memorial Day camping trip remains unsolved

LOS ANGELES -- It's been three years since a Fort Bragg soldier was killed while on a camping trip to the Outer Banks, and the case still hasn't been solved.

Now, on a heartbreaking Memorial Day, his family in California continued to beg for help in finding his killer.

"A lot of people took his kindness for weakness and that was the strongest thing about him, was how kind-hearted he was," Griselda Martinez, the sister of Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez said to ABC station KABC. "Fearing his death, just over three years ago, has been forgotten."

Roman-Martinez, who was an Army paratrooper serving in the 82nd Airborne Division, was killed during a Memorial Day camping trip.

Read More: ​https://abc11.com/enrique-roman-martinez-fort-bragg-soldier-killed-cold-case-chino/13320520/

The Independence Pass John Doe has been identified. His name is Gardner Paul Smith.

Although the identification has answered a lot of questions about the man whose body was found on Independence Pass in 1970, other questions remain. Some may never be answered.

It’s been thought in recent years that DNA would be the only way this man would be identified, and indeed that turned out to be the case.
For Jeanne Smith Gaida, a Realtor in Austin, Texas, the news came via a phone call from a cousin who carefully told Gaida that her father had been identified. As far as Gaida knew, her father had deserted the family shortly after her birth and had never been heard from again.

Gaida was then contacted by Melissa Kramer, a forensic genealogy analyst for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, who provided her with a 2016 Herald Democrat article describing the story of the Independence Pass John Doe.

Gaida said she has spent 60 years wondering why her father disappeared “and being pissed off and on.” Her mother and other family members were reluctant to discuss her father with her. Yet the cartons of newspaper clippings  that she acquired do tell a portion of the story.

Gardner Smith was born Sept. 22, 1930, the older son of Paul and Bernita Smith, and attended Modesto High School in California. The Smith family, which included Gardner Smith’s younger brother Armour, was a skiing family.

The skiing industry, especially in the West, was just getting started after World War II. Paul Smith’s obituary in The Modesto Bee credits him with creating the ski resort Boreal Mountain California as well as being associated with several other businesses. It said he discovered skiing in 1936 during a trip to the Midwest and returned to Modesto to help charter the Modesto Ski Club.

His obituary notes that he continued to ski throughout most of his life. A broken leg at age 74 during a 1973 ski trip to Vail only slowed him down briefly. He continued skiing 25 days a year. His wife was also a skier, and it was natural that the sport was introduced to their sons. Paul Smith lived to be 93 and his wife 88. Since the whereabouts of Gardner Smith were still a mystery when they died, both of their obituaries list him as a survivor.

​For Gardner Smith, skiing became his life. He attended the University of Nevada in Reno, skiing for the college team with some documented success. His daughter has one undated clipping that describes a win by the Nevada ski team at Edelweiss and says her father took first in the jumping, cross-country and downhill events.

In June 1951, Gardner Smith joined the Army, serving two years of active duty and then transferring to the reserves where he served four more years. He was honorably discharged in June 1957.

Read More: ​ htmlwww.themountainmail.com/free_content/article_65dd0816-b252-11ed-b641-5fa0bbcacb2b.html

​https://6abc.com/kevin-alvin-jude-carroll-body-found-delaware-county-missing-person-ridley-township-human-remains-crum-creek-victim/11687421/

From her GoFundMe page: ​https://www.gofundme.com/f/nancy-galloways-medical-expenses

​HOUSTON (KXAN) — Standing on the side of a packed street in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, David Fritts held his son’s picture and talked to anyone who would listen. 

The photo was a more recent one of Joseph smiling. Fritts would show it to shop owners along the border and people crossing from Texas.

He would tell them that he was 5’10”, with brown hair and brown eyes and was last in the Laredo area. 

“It’s really hard to describe the feeling of looking for your son with a picture and showing it to people … at one moment you’re determined and the other you feel so vulnerable,” the father described. “A lot of people were so kind … really caring people saying, ‘Oh I’m so sad,’ and they would look at the picture and say, ‘Oh, that’s your son, isn’t it?'” 

He would make the trip countless times, even going to Costa Rica because Joseph loved to surf. 

“Weeks turned into months,” Fritts said. “As time passed, especially after his brother Jordan’s birthday … we were all realizing how dire it was.”

A Marine’s struggle 
Joseph was Fritts’ middle child. 

“He was so full of life and had so many great friends and always lit up the room. He was just such a character,” he said, smiling.

Fritts recalled how he excelled in college and then how proud he was when he joined the Marines. 

“Joseph was the rough, tough little buffed-up guy, you know. Even in the Marines, he was number one in that whole class, as far as physical activity, you know. But it’s still tough, you know. It’s still mentally and physically tough, and Joseph didn’t always smile in pictures, but that one he was definitely smiling after boot camp. He was so happy to have graduated,” Fritts said, pointing to a picture of Joseph in uniform.

Continue reading this story at the link below:
​https://www.kxan.com/investigations/finding-missing-texans-the-push-to-expand-use-of-a-key-online-tool/

If your state is not requiring the use of NamUs contact your local representative and ask them to start legislation to require it. 

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP68549
Date Body Found: April 12, 2020
Location Found: Shoals Point on Kruzof Island near Sitka, Alaska
Estimated Age Range: 30-50 Years

Sex: Unsure
Race / Ethnicity: Hispanic / Latino, Asian, American Indian / Alaska Native

Circumstances of Recovery: AST received a call from a bystander stating they located human remains while exploring Kruzof Island. The remains were located near Shoals Point on what used to be a road/path that has now become overgrown. No known grave sites are located nearby but the area is known for being a WWII site.

Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only

6-inch Battery 290 Emergency 6-inch Battery Allen

The first men arrived at Shoals Point in 1942.  About thirty men from Battery A of the 266th Coast Artillery were assigned to construct an emergency battery of two old six-inch guns that the Navy gave to the Army for the defense of Sitka Sound.  The two guns were emplaced on pedestal mounts just above the high tide line and just inside the trees.  The 266th Coast Artillery referred to these guns as Battery Allen in their Christmas Dinner Menu of 1942.  Cpl. Ted Gutches spent much of 1942 and 1943 at Shoals Point and has shared stories, photos and other memorabilia from his visit.

Read more about this at the link below:

​http://www.sitkaww2.com/harbordefenses/Locations/shoalspt/shoalspt.html

SYNOPSIS: Lee Leslie was 70 years of age and kept a country home in the 27000 block of Dry Creek. During this time, Leslie had a friend, Raymond Mitchell (57 yoa), staying with him for a short time. Both were known to befriend males in the Houston, Texas, area and allow the males to visit in Magnolia.

On January 15, 1983, at approx. 3:00 am, a witness reporting hearing a disturbance and vehicles leaving from Lee’s residence. On January 15, 1983, at approx. 5:30 pm, a family member discovered a dead body inside Lee’s home. MCSO Deputies responded and found Lee in the closet of the northeast bedroom and Mitchell’s body was in a closet in the southeast bedroom. Both had been beaten and stabbed to death. Lee’s maroon 1978 Pontiac was missing from the scene.

On February 8, 1983, Lee’s car was found abandoned in the 1900 block of Indiana Street in Houston. Investigation revealed that the car had been left at this location within a short time of the murders.

Source: ​http://www.mctxsheriff.org/divisions/criminal_investigative_division/