Solved at Last: Identity of 'Pinnacle Man' Revealed 50 Years After His Frozen Body Was Discovered in a Pennsylvania Cave

The nearly 50-year-old mystery surrounding the “Pinnacle Man” has finally been resolved. The frozen corpse found by hikers near a popular Appalachian Trail viewpoint in Pennsylvania in 1977 has been identified as Nicolas Paul Grubb, a 27-year-old originally from Croydon, south London.

Knewz.com has learned that Grubb’s body was discovered on January 16, 1977, in a cave beneath the Pinnacle, a well-known scenic spot in Berks County, Pennsylvania. His identity had remained unknown for decades despite extensive efforts to uncover who he was.

Initial reports from the time described the victim as a white male, weighing approximately 155 pounds, between the ages of 25 and 35, with blue eyes and reddish curly hair. He was estimated to stand between 5’10” and 5’11”.

Following an autopsy, it was determined that Grubb had died from a barbiturate overdose, and his death was ruled a suicide with no signs of foul play. Despite a detailed description and sketch of the victim being circulated, no one came forward to identify him, and the case went cold.

For years, Grubb remained buried in a cemetery plot designated for unmarked graves, where his remains rested undisturbed until 2019 when a renewed interest in the case led to his exhumation.

Forensic experts and specialists were brought in, and samples were sent to cold case investigators with a record of solving decades-old mysteries. However, even with these efforts, the case reached another dead end.

The breakthrough came earlier this month when a cold case detective located the original fingerprints taken during Grubb’s autopsy and sent them to the FBI for further analysis. An FBI agent matched the prints to those from a 1975 arrest for a misdemeanor in Colorado, finally revealing Grubb’s identity.

Berks County Coroner’s Office officially identified the man on Tuesday as Nicolas Paul Grubb, who was living in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, at the time of his death. Grubb had moved to the United States in his youth, following his parents and grandfather, a prominent evangelical leader who had relocated the family from England to Fort Washington in the 1950s.

Grubb joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard before being discharged in 1971, a few years before his death. Aside from his misdemeanor arrest in Colorado, little is known about his life post-discharge.

Family members unaware of Grubb’s fate expressed relief and intrigue at the case’s resolution. Charles R. Grubb, a first cousin once removed, shared his thoughts, stating , “I’ve always been kind of intrigued by it. It was really interesting and intriguing to learn. That there was finally some culmination to his disappearance. To this mystery.”

Grubb’s distant relatives noted that while his disappearance was known within the family, they never had any information about what had happened to him, making the revelation of his identity both a sad and somewhat comforting closure to a long-standing family mystery.

The identification of Grubb brings an end to one of the lingering cold cases in Berks County and offers a small sense of closure to those who had wondered about the “Pinnacle Man” for nearly half a century.