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The remains of Nicholas Paul Grubb, 27, of Fort Washington, Montgomery County, were discovered in January 1977 by two Appalachian Trail hikers who had ducked inside the cave to escape foul weather, according to the Berks County Coroner which announced the news last week.
Grubb has long been known as the “Pinnacle Man,” named after the mountain peak near where his body was found.
An autopsy at the time found no signs of foul play and determined that he died from a drug overdose by suicide. However, authorities could not identify Grubb’s body from his appearance, belongings, clothing or dental information. Fingerprints were collected during his autopsy but somehow were misplaced, according to the coroner’s office.
The most recent breakthrough came when a cold case detective for Troop L, Reading Barracks, Pennsylvania State Police located the original fingerprint cards for the decedent and submitted them to NamUs, a national centralized repository and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States. In this case, an FBI fingerprint expert was able to determine a match in less than an hour, the coroner said.
Over the last 15 years, no less than 10 missing persons were compared to Nicolas Grubb using fingerprints and dental x-rays.
"Nicky" as he was known by family, received an honorable discharge in 1971 after serving with Company C, 1/111th Infantry of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
The decedent’s next of kin were notified and were very appreciative of the combined efforts of the Berks County Coroner’s Office, Pennsylvania State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation and The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
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