The identity of a man found frozen in a Pennsylvania cave in 1977 has been confirmed almost 50 years later by the Berks County Coroner’s office on Tuesday.
The remains of Nicholas Paul Grubb, 27, of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, were discovered by hikers on Jan. 16, 1977, in a cave near the Pinnacle on the Appalachian Trail. Grubb has been referred to as the “Pinnacle Man” referring to where his body was found.
The cause of death given by a pathologist during an autopsy listed Grubbs death as a suicide from an overdose of drugs phenobarbital and phenobarbitone, said Chief Deputy Coroner of the Berks County Coroner Office, George Holmes, in the news conference. He continued stating that Grubb’s body showed no signs of foul play.
Grubbs’ fingerprints were recorded during the autopsy but the original fingerprints were misplaced, according to the Coroner’s Office.
For the past 15 years, local, state, and federal authorities continued working on the case, and in 2019, Grubb’s body was exhumed. DNA samples were collected for analysis but ultimately came back inconclusive.
In 2020, officials tried testing the regular and Genealogical DNA samples, but the following 18 months failed to produce any results, said Holmes.
A breakthrough came about on Aug. 12 when Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Ian Keck dug through archives, found the original fingerprint cards, and submitted them to the National Missing and Unidentified Person System (NamUs).
“He was able to discover the originals which was a huge break for this case,” said Holmes.
A conclusive match was found in less than an hour after submitting the prints to NamUs by Brian Johnson, FBI’s fingerprint analyst, who matched the prints to Grubb.
“All this would not have been possible if not for the combined effort of federal, state, and local agencies and I wanted to thank Trooper Keck on this, in the end it was good old-fashioned police work” Holmes added.
The coroner’s office said the investigation will continue to obtain as much information on Grubb as possible. Authorities confirmed that Grubb served the country with the Charlie Company, 1/111th infantry of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 1971.
A family member of Grubb confirmed his identity and asked the coroner’s office to move his remains to a family plot.
“The family’s been looking for their loved one for over 40 years, not knowing whatever happened to them, so for me to have this tiny part in it, I’m glad I was able to help out, but I hope that this brings closure to the family,” said Keck.