Pinnacle Man mystery finally solved four decades after he was found frozen in cave
Support truly
independent journalism
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Pennsylvania authorities have identified the frozen remains of a man discovered in 1977 in a cave below the Pinnacle on the Appalachian Trail.
Dubbed the “Pinnacle Man,” the Berks County Coroner’s Office revealed his identity as 27-year-old Nicolas Paul Grubb from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania at a news conference.
Two hikers discovered the man’s body on 16 January 1977 in Albany Township. That January happened to be one of the coldest months in Pennsylvania’s history. Snow during that winter reached 49 inches.
Grubb had been described as a white male between the ages of 25 and 35 with blue eyes and reddish curly hair. He was thought to have stood 5’10 to 5’11 and weighed 155 pounds.
Following an autopsy conducted on 17 January 1977 at Reading Hospital, the man’s cause of death was listed as an overdose of Phenobarbital and Pentobarbital. His manner of death was declared a suicide. There were no obvious signs of foul play.
No one claimed Grubb’s body and the case went cold for decades. He was buried at the Berks County Potter’s Field, a county plot of land designated for unmarked graves.
In August of 2019, his body was exhumed from Potter’s Field and taken to Reading Hospital, where he was examined by a forensic anthropologist, forensic pathologist and forensic odontologist.
Samples taken from a forensic dental exam were shipped to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification. The department has been successful in solving cold cases in the past. The center conducted tests but those examinations did not yield any results.
Earlier this month, a cold case officer found Grubb’s original fingerprint cards and submitted them to the FBI for examination. An agent found a match in less than an hour on August 27, finally identifying him.
Someone related to Grubb confirmed his identity and provided documents to authorities. His family now wants him buried in a family plot and the Coroner’s Office is working to bring him home.
