Officials ID ‘Pinnacle Man' Found Dead In PA Cave In 1977

BERKS COUNTY, PA — Officials on Tuesday identified the "Pinnacle Man," whose body was found frozen inside a cave along the Appalachian Trail in Berks County.

On Jan. 16, 1977, hikers found the body of an unidentified man in a cave just below the Pinnacle in Albany Township, authorities said. He was described as a white male between the ages of 25 and 35, reports said. He had blue eyes and reddish, curly long hair.

At a Tuesday news conference, the Berks County Coroner’s Office identified the man as 27-year-old Nicolas Paul Grubb of Fort Washington in Montgomery County.

"There is no greater closure than to give a name to those who can not tell their own story and to make sure they find their way back home to their loved ones," the coroner's office said in a social media post.

According to officials, authorities were able to identify Grubb after a Pennsylvania State Police detective located the original copy of his fingerprints. The prints were submitted for analysis and an FBI fingerprint expert was able to determine a match in less than an hour.

During an autopsy performed in 1977, officials determined Grubb died of a drug overdose and the cause of death was listed as suicide. Since no one claimed his body, Grubb was buried in Potter’s Field in Berks County.

According to officials, Grubb's body was exhumed in 2019 and samples were submitted for DNA analysis; however, the results came back inconclusive.