Almost 50 years ago, a man died alone in a cave on the Appalachian Trail with $1.78 in his pocket. After hikers found his frozen body in the cave at a point on the trail known as the Pinnacle in January 1977, he was known only as Pinnacle Man for decades before a recent breakthrough in the case, NBC 10 reports. Authorities in Berks County, Pennsylvania, said Tuesday that he had been identified as Nicolas Paul Grubb, a 27-year-old man from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania—a town around 65 miles from where the body was found. "For 47 years, this man remained unidentified. A nameless figure in a long-forgotten case," Berks County Coroner John Fielding III said Tuesday.
"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," Fielding said. After the body was found in 1977, an autopsy found that Grubb died of an overdose of phenobarbital and pentobarbital, PhillyVoice reports. The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was suicide. He was buried in the Berks County Potter's Field. After advances in forensic technology, Grubb's body was exhumed in 2019 but efforts to identify him through DNA failed.
NBC 10 reports that a breakthrough in the case came earlier this month, when a Pennsylvania State Police cold case detective found the long-missing original copy of his fingerprints. The copy the coroner's office had was too deteriorated to get a match but with the original, it took an FBI detective less than an hour to identify Grubb. Fielding said Grubb's relatives were "notified and expressed their deep appreciation for the collective efforts that made it possible." The coroner's office is working to transfer Grubb's remains so he can be buried in the family plot. (More Appalachian Trail stories.)
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