50-year mystery of 'pinnacle man' found frozen to death in cave finally solved

After nearly 50 years of mystery, the case of a man found frozen to death has finally been solved.

Yep, sounds like the plot of rogue flop film, right? Except the story of the ‘Pinnacle Man’ is very much real.

Back in 1977, two hikers discovered the man’s body on 16 January in Pennsylvania, US.

Nicknamed the ‘Pinnacle Man’ in reference to the Appalachian mountain peak, authorities at the time ruled he’d died of a drug overdose, with an autopsy finding no signs of foul play.

However, investigators were unable to identify him from his appearance, belongings, clothing or dental information - leaving them to rely on a brief sketch.

And adding to the film-like nature of all this, the fingerprints collected during examination were later misplaced.

Investigators had to go off a sketch (Berks County Coroner's Office)

And now, nearly 50 years later, the Berks County Coroner’s Office has identified the Pinnacle Man as Nicholas Paul Grubb, a 27-year-old from Fort Washington, Maryland.

“Over the last 15 years, detectives from the state police and investigators from the coroner’s office compared Nicolas’ information to no less than 10 missing persons through fingerprints and dental X-rays,” John Fielding, Berks county’s coroner said, per WGAL.

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In 2019, his body was exhumed after dental records tied him to two missing people from Illinois and Florida. However, the collected DNA samples didn’t match either of them.

But a breakthrough came in August when Pennsylvania state police trooper Ian Keck finally found the missing fingerprints.

And within less than an hour of the card being submitted to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), an FBI fingerprint expert matched them to Grubb’s.

The man was identified after nearly five decades (Berks County Coroner's Office)

“It took some digging, looking in our archives. Luckily, going through the archives, along with photos, there happened to be a fingerprint card,” Keck said.

Describing it as ‘bittersweet’, he continued: “The family has been looking for their loved one for over 40 years, not knowing whatever happened to them. For me to have this tiny part in it, I’m glad I was able to help out.”

A family member confirmed the man’s identity and it was requested for his remains to be buried in his family’s plot. Authorities said they are going to continue investigating his cause of death until a final ruling is made.

Fielding said: “This identification brings a long-awaited resolution to his family, who have been notified and expressed their deep appreciation for the collective efforts that made it possible.

“It is moments like these that remind us of the importance of our work to provide answers, to bring closure and to give the unidentified a name and a story.”