After nearly 50 years, the mystery of “Pinnacle Man” has been resolved. The Berks County Coroner’s Office has identified the remains of the man discovered in a Pennsylvania cave back in January 1977 as Nicholas Paul Grubb, a 27-year-old from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.
The remains were found by two hikers seeking shelter during harsh weather conditions near the Pinnacle, a well-known part of the Appalachian Trail. Investigators, including the state police and coroner’s office, have spent over 15 years attempting to link Grubb to various missing persons through his fingerprints and dental records.
Despite an autopsy revealing Grubb’s cause of death as a drug overdose with no signs of foul play, identification remained elusive due to the condition of his remains and lost fingerprints from the autopsy process. In 2019, forensic efforts included exhuming his body and conducting DNA tests, but those yielded no matches.
This year, a breakthrough occurred when Ian Keck, a Pennsylvania state trooper, found the long-misplaced fingerprints. Within an hour of submission to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, an FBI expert matched them to Grubb.
Now, Grubb’s family finally has closure and has requested that his remains be placed in a family plot. “It took some digging,” Keck remarked at a press conference, expressing both joy and sadness at being part of the resolution after decades of uncertainty for Grubb’s loved ones.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.