Death Valley National Park (CA)
Suspected Remains Of Long Missing Visitor Found
On Thursday, November 12th, rangers were contacted by two Riverside County men who advised that they had found skeletal human remains while hiking in a remote southwestern section of the park near Needle Peak. Preliminary evidence indicates that the remains may be tied to a case involving four German visitors who disappeared in the park in July of 1996. The case is being jointly investigated by the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department, the Bakersfield Office of the FBI and the National Park Service. Evidence found near the scattered skeletal remains included personal identification of one of the missing German visitors. Investigators are currently on scene looking for additional evidence. Back in 1996, the case sparked a massive multiagency search that failed to turn up any trace of the German visitors.