In the Tyrolean mountains – After almost 60 years: the mystery of the missing person solved

In 1967, a then 30-year-old German from Baden-Württemberg went on a ski trip in the Rotmoostal with a colleague. There has been no trace of the man since – until now.

As the police now report, in August of the previous year, several bones and a lower leg including a foot were found in the municipality of Sölden, in the Gurgl district, in the Rotmoostal at an altitude of 2,459 meters. A shepherdess found the bones and reported them to the police at the time.

Further investigations
Officers from the police stations of Sölden and Imst brought the bones and the supposedly human lower leg to the valley and handed them over for diagnosis and DNA testing on behalf of the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office.

Animal and human bones
These were examined at the Institute for Forensic Medicine of the University of Innsbruck. Now it is clear: some bone parts are animal bones. However, the lower leg and foot belong to a human. “Based on further DNA research, it is now clear that the lower leg and foot can be attributed to a then 30-year-old German from Baden-Württemberg,” the police said.

The man fell into a crevasse
The man has been missing since 1967, when he fell into a crevasse in bad weather in the area of ​​the so-called Wasserfallferner at an altitude of about 3,200 meters, and has been missing ever since. A large-scale search was called off after several days due to persistent bad weather.

When the bones were found last summer, it was initially unclear who these bones belonged to. Because parts of a ski were also found during the rescue, investigators searched the archives and became aware of the 1967 case. A DNA test was then ordered.

The bones were found about 700 meters below the accident site in the In Kirchen area. There is no exact date of death. There are no relatives of the dead man.