Criminology - The Death Valley Germans

Episode Date: March 20, 2022

In 1996, four German tourists, two adults, and two children disappeared in California's Death Valley. Investigators found a rented minivan with three flat tires but no sign of anyone. The rented car was quickly traced to German tourist 34-year-old Egbert Rikmus. Traveling with Egbert was his 11-year-old son Georg, his 28-year-old girlfriend Cornelia, and Cornelia's four-year-old son Max. Investigators worked hard to search for the four tourists and to track their movements in the United States. But, they were unable to find the group. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of the group that became known as the Death Valley Germans. Many years went passed without any luck in finding the tourists. But, one man, Tom Mahood, was fascinated with the case and just couldn't let it go. He worked tirelessly on his own investigation and some of his theories proved to be correct when Egbert's remains were finally identified in 2010. But, there are still a number of mysteries that remain in this case. What exactly happened to four tourists trying to have an idyllic vacation in the United States? You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases, and a touch of mom-style humor, moms and mysteries is the podcast you've been searching for. Hey guys, I'm Mandy. And I'm Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for moms and mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched true crime stories. Each week, we deep dive into a variety of mind-boggling cases as we shed light on everything from heist to who done it. We're your go-to podcast for Mysteries with a Motherly Touch.

Subscribe now to moms and mysteries wherever you get your podcast. Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 199 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford. What's going on with you?

A little bit hectic around the Morford household today. The kids are on spring break, and it's St. Patrick's Day. We're doing a little something later on, and my truck's in the shop. So a little bit of everything going on. How about you? Yeah, wow, you got a lot. Normally you say not much. I know.

You actually have a lot. This week was a little bit crazy. Yeah, no, I'm doing good, getting ready for the tournament, the basketball tournament. That's usually my favorite time of year. Still watching the news. Still keep my eye on this Ukraine situation. There's a lot going on in the world. There's no doubt about that.

Yeah, a lot to take in and digest. Yeah, yeah. A lot of heavy stuff. stuff, a lot of heavy stuff. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Kathy Dodson, Kim B, and Emil Garrison Zuega. So we appreciate that support very much. Yeah, thank you so much. That support goes a long way to helping put up the show. And if anyone would like to support criminology, you can do so by going to patreon.com slash criminology. All right. Let's jump right into this episode, you know, more if we've talked about the desert in California, a number of times in different

episodes of this show, it's a desolate place where many crimes are hidden. It's also a place where there are a lot of mysteries. It's where Monique Figueroa disappeared in Little Rock in 2015 and where the McStay family was found buried in Victorville in 2014. In both of those cases, the Vassiz. The vastness of the landscape was just one of the challenges in their respective investigations. In this episode, we're discussing a case of four missing people, tourists who came to the U.S. to have an adventure and instead became part of a mystery that puzzled investigators for years. This group collectively came to be known as the Death Valley Germans. On October 21st, 1996, Death Valley National Park Rangers were conducting surveillance.

from a helicopter. They were searching for any illegal row areas or drug manufacturing labs. This was something they did often as part of an effort to combat illegal drugs. This time, though, at around 11 a.m., Ranger Dave Brenner spotted a vehicle in the wilderness. Immediately, he felt something was sort of off to what he was seeing. Brenner wanted to take a closer look so the helicopter landed. The vehicle was parked in a wash in Anvil Canyon, where there was no road. There used to be a road there. The only road through the area into Butte Valley,

but it had fallen out of use when a more maintained dirt road was built nearby. The Desert Protection Act was passed in 1994, and as a result, Anvil Canyon was protected as wilderness, and vehicles have been prohibited there ever since. This area is just not the kind of place you would expect to see a minivan. Maybe a big truck, maybe an ATV. It would still be illegal, but getting to the location at least would seem possible.

But a minivan, that's not the kind of vehicle you'd expect to see in that area. It was obvious that the van had been there for quite a while, as evidenced by the thick layer of dust covering the entire exterior of the van. It was green, though it was kind of even hard to tell because of all the dust. A closer examination revealed that it was a 1996 Plymouth, Void, or minivan. The van was stuck in the wash due to flat tires. Both rear tires and the front left tire were flat. And it looked like they had been for some time. There were tire tracks in the dirt, which appeared to be more like drag marks that showed the van had gone at least 200 feet with its

rear tires flat. The van had sunken into the sandy desert ground. The axles were stuck in the dirt. The doors were locked and there was no sign of anyone inside the van. This was sort of worrisome to Ranger Brenner. At first he thought that perhaps someone had ditched it there after a joyride or had reported it stolen and dumped it there as part of an insurance scam. But that didn't seem right to him since it was locked up and the placement of the van itself was really odd. There were belongings inside the van too.

There was an American flag inside, along with a copy of the Death Valley National Monument museum text. pamphlet, and it was written in German. When he got back to the Death Valley National Park Station, Ranger Brenner called in the California license plate tag number that was on the van, and that's when the mystery really deepened. The California Highway Patrol reported back that the minivan had been reported stolen about six weeks earlier on September 10, 1996.

This report was taken by the LA Police Department. The van was owned by Dollar Renekar. who had last rented it out on July 8, 1996, a group of tourists from Germany, two adults, and two children, had failed to return the van when it was due to be returned on July 26th. As per their policy, dollar rent a car waited a minimum of 30 days after a return deadline was missed to report their car stolen. When the van was reported stolen, it was quickly determined that the vehicle had been rented by 34-year-old Egbert Rimkus. With Egbert was his 11-year-old son, George Weber,

Egbert's girlfriend, 28-year-old Cornelia Meyer, and her four-year-old son, Max Meyer. They all had Interpol alerts placed on them on August 26, 1996. The four had flown from Frankfurt, Germany, to Seattle, Washington on July 8th. Then they caught a flight to Los Angeles, where they ran. rented the van from Dollar Renewcar. They were supposed to return the van on July 26th, and then catch a flight back to Germany on the 27th.

Not only had they not returned the van to the rental company, they had missed their flight, and they hadn't returned home to Dresden, Germany, on the 29th like they were supposed to. Back home, Egbert's ex-wife, Heikey Weber, had been worried about their son, George, since he and Egbert hadn't returned home. The day after the van was found, investigators returned to the van, to start their investigation into the disappearance of Egbert, Cornelia, Max, and George. A California Highway Patrol helicopter was used to transport Eric Enman, an investigator with the Death Valley National Park, out to the location of the van. Photographs were taken and a visual

inspection started. The only footprints visible were those of Ranger Brenner. Made just the day before when he discovered the van, a few food wrappers were on the ground and in the brush around the van. There were also a few dugout holes that someone had used to relieve themselves in as evidenced by buried fecal matter as well as some toilet paper left behind. After an hour on the scene, Investigator Enman flew back to Badwater Road and met with Detective Jim Jones and Corporal Leon Boyer of the Nyo Sheriff's Office. They discussed Inman's findings, and then they headed back to the scene where the van was. At around 1 p.m., investigators opened the van's doors and took inventory of the belongings that were still inside. As we mentioned earlier, there was an American flag inside. Later, investigators were determined that this flag had been taken from a nearby volunteer cabin in Butte Valley, just 4.1 miles west of the van.

The flag was labeled Butte Valley Stone Cabin. This led investigators to believe that the group had been to the cabin before they went missing. That cabin was also known as the geologist cabin. The flags are kept there for campers to raise on the flagpole when you're camping there, but the tourist apparently took it as a souvenir and had it on their way. Also, as we mentioned, there was a copy of the Death Valley National Monument Museum text pamphlet, and it was written in German. This made sense to investigators since the group were German,

and likely bought this pamphlet to aid in their trip. Other belongings inside the van included luggage, clothing, toys, a jack and small spare tire, a tent, one Coleman sleeping bag inside of its box and another empty Coleman sleeping bag box. There were also three bottles of butt-ice beer, two run open and one was empty. There was one empty bourbon bottle and another bottle of bourbon that was about three-quarters full and a few empty containers of water and juice. Egbert's Swiss bank cards, a Citigorp card, a pipe for smoking tobacco, and a 35 millimeter practica camera with a few undeveloped rolls of film were also found inside. At around 2 p.m. after an hour of searching, the van was towed from Anvil Canyon to Miller's

towing impound lot in Lone Pine, California. Rangers looked through the old visitor's logs from the various sites around Death Valley. These are signed by campers and hikers, and they're collected by field rangers as a kind of guide to a person's last known location in the wilderness, just in case they go missing or get injured and need rescue. There was an entry from the German tourist in the Warm Spring Visitors log book. It read Connie, Egbert, George, and Max. And in German, we are going over the pass. The entry was dated July 23rd, 1996. Warm Springs, a former mine camp, is on the way to Butte Valley from the main area of Death Valley. Investigators believe that the past they planned to go over was the nearby Mengel Pass at the southwest end of Death Valley.

So, Morvah, I think we need to take a minute, kind of talk about this investigation and really talk about it in the context of the environment that they're working in, you know, very different, right, from, you know, being in. in the suburbs or in a very developed area, this is very desolate. I mean, we're talking desert type area here. There's not all that much around. Yeah, I think it's a very unforgiving environment.

It's hot. You've got nothing but sand. And if you're hurt or lost, I don't know where you go to try and find help. You know, what direction do you head in? Especially if you don't know that area, you don't have the skills to navigate.

So if these people got hurt or lost out there, it was a bad situation for sure. Well, you have to wonder what, you know, authorities were thinking. Okay, had a problem with the vehicle, perhaps. So then the four passengers had to set out on foot. You have this evidence of them digging holes to go to the bathroom. Again, in this environment, much different, right? if I break down on the side of the road, well, I can probably walk to a house somewhere around close to where I live. This is not that type of place. Backtracking over the movements of the

tourists, Rangers found that two German copies of Death Valley National Monument Museum text were purchased from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center on July 22nd, which was not an everyday occurrence. Rangers also couldn't find any sign of where the tourist had stayed. They know they hadn't checked into the stovepipe Wells Resort, the nearby Furnace Creek Inn, or the Furnace Creek Ranch. And they hadn't registered to camp at the Furnace Creek campground. Investigators knew that they had their work cut out for them as they began to organize a search. A ground search started on October 23rd at 10 a.m. The search party included multiple trackers from the Indian Wells Valley Search and Rescue Group,

the China Lake Mountain Rescue Group, and eight Kern County Sheriff's mounted search and rescue units. The China Lake Mountain Rescue Group found a directional clue about 1.7 miles east of the van. There was a large bush, more like tumbleweed material, and next to it there was a large flat indentation like someone had sat down in the bush's shade. There was also a bottle of budd ice sitting down in the sand. like someone sat it down, placed it next to them. This gave investigators an area to focus on as they searched. Unfortunately, though, nothing else was found that day from the van eastward to the mouth of Anvil Canyon at Wormsprung Road.

A second day of searching started on October 24. The previous search teams resumed their canvas and search crews from Nye County, Inyo County, and Nevada showed up to help. Two helicopters were also used, both to search and to help get supplies to the searchers, so they wouldn't have to carry around so much gear with them through the desert. This time, the area from the van eastward to the head of Anvil Canyon at Willow Spring was searched. This covered much of Anvil Canyon. Parts of Butte Valley and Mingle Pass were also searched, but still nothing was found. On October 25th, the search expanded in Annville Canyon to the far side of Badwater Road.

A team from nearby Victorville, California, searched the southern tip of Butte Valley. A ranger from the Bureau of Land Management searched Mingle Pass between Ballarat and Barker Ranch, searchers from Lake Mead National Park, headed north from Anvil Canyon to Butte Valley. A team from Indian Wells Valley searched Willow Springs. spring and the China Lake Mountain Rescue group continued to search around Anvil Canyon. Again, the search that day yielded no results. So more if there's no doubt, there are a lot of people searching for these four individuals. There are a lot of resources that have been, you know, kind of put into the search. I do want to go back and talk about Barker Ranch. I mean,

Obviously, anybody listening knows that, you know, that was part of the Manson family story. It kind of jumped out at me. Yeah, I think for searchers, it was like finding a needle in a haystack because you've got this big desert with so many different areas to search. And where do you begin? And, you know, how do you sort of figure out where you're going to go next in an effort to try and find these missing tourists? The final day of searching, October 26th, included more of Butte Valley, Worm Spring Canyon, Mengel Pass, and areas near Ballarat. The same search crews, helicopters, and a new search team from Apple Valley

found nothing in their extensive search that day. Finally, the search was called off, but many people kept searching on their own and in small groups, despite the official search ending. People wanted to find the group that had been dubbed the Death Valley Germans. despite their continued efforts, nothing was found. It was as if the four tourists had left the area somehow. I think that's got to be pretty discouraging and disheartening when you spend all that time, effort. You've got crews out there on foot in the hot sun, and you give it your best effort to find these people.

And the most that you find is pretty much a beer bottle. It must have been just a real letdown for these people to not accomplish with they're setting up to do. Yeah, you know, you and I talk about searches because they come up in a lot of episodes. One thing we don't talk a lot about is the mindset. You know, what's going on in the minds of these individuals, you know, some of these people are paid to do the searching, right, as part of their job. Some volunteers come out to search in different cases. What happens to these people mentally, day after day of going through this process. Obviously, they want to find these people, but they don't. And that has to be very tough. It's something that we really don't talk about much.

I mean, to the point, morph, where in this case, searchers make the decision, even after the official search is called off that, hey, we're going to, some of us are going to keep doing it on our own. Investigators wanted to find out more about the group's plans. So they looked into their travel history. From Los Angeles, they had gone to San Clemente, just over an hour south. On July 12, Egbert requested the transfer of $1,500 from his bank in Dresden to the San Clemente branch of Bank of America. From San Clemente, the group headed northeast to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they checked into the Treasure Island Hotel. On July 21st, Egbert made another request for money. This time he sent a fax to Heikey Weber, his ex-wife, and his son, George's mother,

asking for money. But she didn't send any money. And the group left Las Vegas on July 22nd, headed west to Death Valley. That same day, July 22nd, the group made it to Furnace Creek, California, which is about two hours west of Las Vegas. We know this because of the two German copies, of the Death Valley National Monument Museum text that were purchased from the Furness Creek Visitor Center that day. Emmett Harder, a prospector in Butte Valley, was allowed to see the photos that had been developed from the exposed rolls of film found in the van with the Practica camera. He knew the area very well, having spent countless hours around Butte Valley, and he recognized the location of one of the photos the tourists had taken of the sunset. It was in Hanapa Canyon, less than 20. miles north of a Warm Spring Canyon. Hanapa Canyon would make sense based on their location at the

Furnace Creek Visitor Center on the 22nd, purchasing pamphlets, and the Warm Springs Visitor Law dated July 23rd. From there, though, the trail ended. There were many theories, as there usually are in unsolved cases of any kind. Everything from the group simply being lost to being victims of some desert dwelling outlaws to murder suicide. All of it was bounced around. there was no clear evidence that pointed in any one direction. But I do think the foul play theory stood out to some. After all, how else could four people just disappear without a trace? Perhaps they had been abducted.

While the Manson family wasn't still active, the van was somewhat near, relatively speaking, the former home of the Manson family. To this day, there is an old 1946 Dodge Power Wagon that was once, owned by Charles Manson sitting in the desert near the ghost town of Ballarat. The old rumor is that Tex Watson drove the truck to the desert near Ballarat when he was on the run, but it broke down and someone towed it back to Ballarat where it has sat abandoned ever since. Ballarat, the side of the truck is about an hour and a half drive from Anvil Canyon and Barker Ranch, where the Manson family lived and were arrested.

during raids in 1969 is just a bit farther than that. I think this theory may have gained traction due to movies such as the hills have eyes, which shows groups of cannibals that live in the desert terrorizing a family. Now, I don't know if that makes a whole lot of sense that there are really groups of cannibals living out in the desert and that had something to do with the disappearance of the Death Valley Germans, but it's out there. And you know, Morf, and all of these cases that we do, when you look online. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency.

We just walked in the door, and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved, until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. You will see a plethora of theories, some from the very plausible to what you would have to call pretty absurd. And I think as far as this one goes, there's really nothing to support that theory at all. Yeah, I think any one of us could probably sit there and think of a few movies right off the top of our heads where something happens bad out in the desert and someone's,

victimized by someone or a group. If you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases, and a touch of mom-style humor, moms and mysteries is the podcast you've been searching for. Hey guys, I'm Mandy. And I'm Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for moms and mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched true crime stories. Each week, we deep dive into a variety of mind-boggling cases as we shed light on everything

from heist to whodunit. We're your go-to podcast for Mysteries with a Motherly Touch. Subscribe now to Moms and Mysteries wherever you get your podcast. The van's doors had been locked, and although some of their belongings were left, there was no sign of a struggle or a foul play. It was odd that the van was left behind it at all, something nefarious had happened to the Germans. Someone up to no good could have kept the van,

whether driving it or scrapping it and selling it. It had some kind of value. Yet it was left completely intact besides the flat tires on it. It was also determined that there had been no, activity on Cornelia or Egbert's bank accounts, and all of Egbert's bank cards appeared to have been left inside the locked van. If someone had attacked the group, why leave their credit cards behind? The bud-ice bottle that search crews had found in the shade of a bush, in the minds of some searchers, pointed to someone walking away from the van, probably Egbert from the size of the imprint and the sand.

There's also a military base, not far from where the van was found, which some believed could have been a destination for the Germans. So, you know, obviously some people believe that they were trying to reach this base for help. There are others that have put forth the theory that they were trying to reach an even more secret area inside the base in order to see some top secret technology called hybrid propulsion. So this theory is that the group did make it there where they may have been killed for seeing too much. Again, more of I think this is one of those theories that a lot of people say is very far-fetched. And if the group did go there, it was probably more to try to get help.

But again, there's simply no evidence that they even went to that base. And if they did, I highly doubt that they were trying to see some type of top secret technology or that they could even get to that secret area. You know, that's the thing that jumps out at me about some of these theories. Think about a military base. Okay, pretty well fortified. They don't let just anyone in. And let's say there is this secret area.

You have four German tourists who are just going to somehow be able to sneak inside and do some type of mission impossible, repel down through a vent to see this secret area. I get it. their theories, but, you know, some of them are just so far out there. Yeah, especially since two of these are just young kids, you know, hardly the, the crack team of spies that are going to be, you know, jumping over a fence and getting into this base. Yeah, one of, one of the kids was four years old. You know what four year olds are not known for is their stealthiness. That's a very good point. And you would know because you have small kids. Yep. The most agreed upon theory,

was that the Germans had gone to the United States, specifically to disappear. The disappearance itself did seem sort of odd. Driving a minivan through that part of the desert was almost a certain way to get stuck. It almost seemed like they had wanted the van to get stuck somewhere and out in the middle of nowhere. There would be no witnesses to see them get into another vehicle or hitch a ride out of the area. They could really just completely disappear with only the rented minivan left behind as evidence of where they were. when investigators checked with Egbert's ex-wife Heikey, she mentioned that there was a custody dispute between the two over their son, George,

at the time they disappeared. Egbert's coworkers had also remembered him talking about wanting to move to Costa Rica someday. Connie, though, had a business to run back in Germany, and there was no evidence she wanted to disappear. I think, Morph, when you kind of look through all the possibilities, I think there's one that probably stands out, to be more likely than the others has nothing to do with new lives, rogue bands of serial killers or government conspiracies. That reason is human error. Perhaps the group made a bad decision

to travel into that area. They got stuck and they had to try and walk for help in the hot desert without any supplies that they would need to stay hydrated and maybe they had succumb to the elements. You know, we've already talked about, you know, the fact that much of what was found in the vehicles as far as drinks were alcoholic in nature, which would dehydrate someone much faster. If the group had gone off and died, how likely would it be that none of their remains would be spotted by the extensive search? Weeks with no sign of the Death Valley Germans turned into months, then to years. And eventually their case became the subject of rumor and local folklore. And I think, you know, back to that question, we've talked about,

you know, how expansive this area is, how desolate. I do think there is a good chance that despite all of the extensive searches, these people could have been missed. I think that's very likely when you talk about the fact that, you know, they didn't know which way they went for sure. they found signs of where they were and may have been, but from there, which way did they go? And again, you're talking about a big search area. I liken it to sort of when a ship goes missing in the ocean and they try and find it and they can't.

It's a big area and trying to pinpoint one spot to search in and hopefully find something. It seems like a really uphill battle to do that. and be successful, and I think that's a possibility of what happened here. You know, a big desert looking for someone's remains, and there might not be much of them left if they had perished. It could be easy to miss or overlook. In October 2009, a man named Tom Mahoud,

a rescue worker with a Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit in California, was fascinated with the case of the Death Valley Germans, and he made a plan to search for the truth about what happened to them. This was 13 years after they had gone, missing. So he had his work cut out for him. His account of what may have happened to them, maybe the closest will ever get to known in the full truth. When Mayhead arrived at the location where the van had come to a stop in the canyon on October 27, 2009, he noticed that the van had come to a fork in the road. And it had gone right instead of left, which is actually where the road

continues when he came across the bush, where the bottle was found, it looked like it would only provide shade during the late afternoon, leading Mayhood to believe that someone, again probably Egbert, must have sat there sometime before evening, drinking the bud ice bottle and resting. Back at home, Mayhood looked at maps of Death Valley, carefully scanning the layout of the area. He suddenly realized that there was a plausible reason

that the Germans would have been in Anvil Canyon and a reason that they would have headed south once the van was immobilized, contrary to all prior thinking. Looking at their itinerary, it's clear that they had a set time they would need to be at the airport to catch their flight home. Their plan apparently was to turn in the rented van on July 26th and on July 27th catch their flight home. But this was a sightseeing trip. They had seen Southern California, been to Vegas, and probably wanted to pack the most into their time. Mayhood felt like a likely attraction that they would have wanted to see before

heading back to Germany was Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Yosemite is almost a six-hour drive from Death Valley, up to eight hours if you take the eastern route. Mayhood figured that the Germans wanted to make it to Yosemite by the night of July 23rd in order to have a day to explore Yosemite before the drive back to Los Angeles. The maps that the Germans had showed a road going from Death Valley, west through Butte Valley, Mingo Pass, then north through Ballarat, and finally all the way to Yosemite. When you consider Egbert's request of money from his ex-wife and her refusal to send him any, it seemed clear that the group was on a limited budget until they made it home to Germany.

I think you could also make the argument that they had run out of money using this line of reasoning. It's believed that the group stayed in Hanapa Canyon to avoid paying for a room or any type of camping fees. It was also a higher elevation than the nearby Valley floor, which made it a little less hot. It would have probably been an uncomfortable but bearable night for the group. They then left Hanapa Canyon in the early morning of July 23rd and most likely expected to take take a direct route to Yosemite. The road from Hanapah Canyon to Warm Spring Canyon isn't too rugged, so it wouldn't have been all that difficult for them to manage. Mayhood noted that the Warm Spring Camp probably would have looked like a small settlement. He imagined the Germans

stopping off for directions and information, but instead found an abandoned visitor's cabin. Here they saw the log inside the steel box outside the cabin and signed it as others had before them. From there they would have headed west toward Butte Valley, where they saw stone cabin, also called the geologist cabin. Again, they probably stopped for directions and information, but found it abandoned. Here is where they took the American flag and then headed on their way. And again, we're relying on Mayhood's expertise. his instincts, his theories, he believes that the Germans then realized they couldn't continue in their minivan as they got closer to mingle paths. It's not an easy road, even for a high clearance vehicle,

which this definitely was not. The lack of four-wheel drive would have been an issue as well. I think anybody who has driven one of those 1990s minivans can picture it, right? They are built for the road. They are definitely, and we're not definitely built for off-roading. Mayhood believes that they would have gotten out of their car and walked ahead a bit to confirm that it was impassable. This is where he believed that things started to go terribly wrong for the Germans. They couldn't continue on their planned route, but if they wanted to get back to the main road, the only paved road in the valley, they would have had to take Warm Spring Road in the opposite direction they wanted to go end for an entire two hours. And perhaps they made a mistake that proved fatal and kept going

in the same direction. The pamphlet they had bought, the Death Valley National Monument Museum text, included a road back to warmer spring through Anvil Canyon. It was a shortcut. Mayhood reasoned that the Germans probably figured they could turn around if they absolutely had to, so they continued down that road to Anvil Canyon. International vacations aren't cheap and times limited, so they really wanted to make the most of their trip, and they likely wanted to go to Yosemite. By this point, it was late afternoon, and they were racing against time. From their spot near Mengel Pass, Mayhood believed that the tourists did backtrack a little, just to the stone cabin. This time, they turned right at Anvil Canyon. Mayhood knew, because since

he was so familiar with the area, that the first mile and a half of that route are fine, So it wouldn't have looked like they were even making a mistake turning in that direction. After all, the road was on a map. But pretty quickly, as May Hood has theorized, the group would have noticed that they were driving on soft sand in a front wheel drive vehicle. If they slowed down at all, they most likely would sink into the sand, like it was mud or snow. Because of this, once they noticed that it was too soft to drive in, it would have been too late to stop and turn around. Sure, they were in a hurry to get to Yosemite, but they also didn't want to get stuck in the sand. However, this speed was too fast for the minivan, which likely caused the tires to

blow as it drove over countless jagged rocks. Unfortunately, they went right at the small fork in the road, but the road they were trying to follow went left. That put them on the side of the wash instead of on the road. Apparently they tried to cut through the brush and gravel to get back to the road, but with three tires blown, eventually they got stuck. Yeah, and I've been pretty fortunate when I'm driving. I've done a lot of off-road driving and I've never gotten stuck or had any mishaps out in the wilderness. But there were a couple times when I, you know, got stuck for a moment and I was like, oh, please, I hope I can get out of here because I was out in the middle of nowhere. And fortunately, with four-wheel drive, I was able to work my way out of there. But

I can just imagine that hapless feeling they may have had sinking in the sand and realize we're not getting out of here in this vehicle. That's got to be a very frightening feeling. Well, in those areas where you were off-roading, the one thing that you probably would have never done was taking 1996 Plymouth Voyager back into those areas, right? Front-wheel drive, low clearance. It could set you up for disaster. Now, these are German tourists. Do they know?

Number one, exactly what they're renting. Do they know exactly where they're going to be going and the terrain and all that stuff? I would say most likely not. Yeah, and they may have been under the belief that, hey, I see this little road on the map, that means we can drive on it. In reality, that's a road that's not really passable, but they may have made the mistake of jumping on that road. Or it's unadvisable to try to take that road in this type of vehicle. But again, if you're in a country that you're unfamiliar with and you have a map and you see a, road, what do you think?

Yeah, okay. I should be able to go there. I think at this point, they would have realized they needed help getting the van back to the rental company before they made their flight. Thinking back the way they came, it's likely there hadn't been anyone else on their entire route where they wouldn't have continued in the direction they were heading in the first place. So it makes sense that they wouldn't immediately think to turn right back.

On the map, China Lake Naval Weapon Station would have only been about nine miles south of where they were stuck. Could this have been their destination? Mayhood believes that Egbert would have been sitting by the bush and the small amount of shade had provided figuring out what to do. He would have walked back to the van to talk to Connie and the children. Mayhood believes they spent the night in the van due to the dugout holes that were used as toilets. In the morning, they headed east, back to the bush where Egbert set the butt-ice bottle down, and then they turned south toward China Lake Naval Weapon Station. Mayhood came to this real, because south toward China Lake Station was the only direction that hadn't really been

thoroughly searched. He also asked himself, how far can people with children make it through one of the least hospitable places on earth without any gear? You know, I think in his mind, he thought not very likely too far. While some believe that the previous searches coming up empty prove that the Germans had planned their disappearances, or, you know, had been taken from the area. Mayhood believed the reason they hadn't been found was simply because the area they were in hadn't been searched. Mayhood and fellow RMRU rescuer, Les Walker, sat out on a search heading south. From the bush where the Bud Ace bottle was found, they hiked south towards Squaw Spring, where they stopped to search for water. Mayhood noted that though there are springs

with running water there, if you don't know they're there, the brush surrounding the spring is obscured. them from view. It took the two of them with all of their experience, over half an hour to find the water, despite knowing that it was there someplace. The German tourists would have been really thirsty and likely wouldn't have found this water source. Mahoud and Walker then headed on their way a bit past the springs until they decided to make camp for the night, setting up their tents. And around 7 a.m. the next morning, the two started up their search again. They headed south, searching the first of three possible routes to China Lake Station. This first one was the westernmost route.

Walker found a wine bottle with only a few bits of label still remaining. Nearby, he found scraps of what looked like toilet paper. It turned out that this was actually pieces of paper from a German day planner. Just a bit further from that, Walker found bones. He also found a wallet with the content still inside. The name on the cards and on the driver's license was Cornelia Meyer. As they fanned out, more items were found. A passport, a bank ID, both of which were Cornelias.

They found a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste. Business cards from the locations Egbert and Cornelia had stopped during their trip to the U.S. more German day planter pages, a clear empty bottle that would later be matched to the bud ice bottle found in the van. And finally, the remnants of the soul of a shoe, that of a small woman or possibly even a child. From this area, the boundary of China Lake Station was about four miles away. The scattered remnants of bones and belongings must have been humbling for these two men. Their hard work had panned out, but now they knew that four people had likely met their demise in the exact spot where they were standing. I think it's amazing that all these years later that some of the stuff was still out there on the surface and, you know, hadn't been scattered by winds or dust, dirt over top of it, that they were able to find these things or else, you know, we'd still be asking a lot of questions today without any kind of answer.

answers. Yeah, I mean, we're not talking months. We're talking years, 13 years, for this stuff to just be laying around in what is a really harsh climate. It's kind of amazing. Yeah. Based on the finds, Mayhood's theory seemed to prove right. He believed that Cornelia had been sitting, waiting for Egbert, possibly the children, to find help. There were multiple drink containers, her belongings, and planner pages used as toilet paper, all in the only spot around from miles with decent shade, which also happened to be an eyesight of the route to China Lake. Mayhood and Walker headed back to the Furnace Creek headquarters of Death Valley National Park to report their findings. They did bring along with them some of Cornelia's ID cards

as proof of what they had found, something the Rangers weren't too happy about. To them, evidence had been disturbed. On the other hand, the authorities were thwarties were thwarted. thrilled that the Germans may have been found and that there was an ID nearby instead of just completely unidentified remains. And so I get that more. I mean, I think one of the first things that probably popped into the Rangers heads was something that was probably drilled into them, as is drilled into most law enforcement. Do not disturb evidence, right? You and I have talked about that a lot. I think to Mayhood and Walker, they thought, deep down that these people weren't killed. This wasn't a crime scene. They had succumbed to the

elements. And so, you know, I can't jump into, you know, these guys's heads. But my assumption is they thought, well, we're not disturbing evidence. This is not evidence of any type of crime. The next day, November 13th, Mayhood was flown out to the site with officers from the NEO County Sheriff's Office and other search and rescue personnel. they recovered what they could find, but Tom Mayhood ended up unsatisfied. He wanted to find everyone in the group. On March 23, 2010, he decided to search the area again on his own, and he found an easier alternative route to the site, starting from Barker Ranch to a spring called

SPSO-06. The spring was about two miles northwest of where the remains had previously been found. After almost an hour of searching near the site, he found a pair of Bausch and Loam sunglasses. The lenses were gone and the frames were hard to see in the dirt, about 10 feet from the glasses. Cards were scattered on the ground. One was Max Myers' health insurance card. The other was Cornelius. He also found a set of keys. They were European. The route ended up being a bit shorter at 17 miles round trip, but it was by no means an easier trek. Despite his best effort, Mayhood didn't find any more remains. In May 2010, DNA taken from the remains found near Cornelia's wallet was finally matched.

Egbert Wreckmus had definitely been found. It confirmed to everyone what most had expected that the bones belonged to one of the Death Valley Germans. Now one was identified, but the remains. The names of the other three were likely still out there someplace in the desert. Mayhood didn't stop searching. He visited the area several more times until his final search on November 14, 2010. Still, he found nothing else since those health insurance cards in March of that year. Mayhood claimed to have received the call from Deputy Winkler of the Inyo County Sheriff's

Department in December 2010, informing him that the final search by their department had uncovered small bones, which was presumed to be mad. Maxing Georges, along with children's shoes. But based on the area they were said to be found in, it doesn't appear that Mayhood believes the Inou County Sheriff's account. And it could just be a case of wanting to provide closure on their part. So more if I think you already said it, but it definitely seems as if Mayhood's instincts were right regarding the Death Valley Germans. But as much as he was right about, there are still unanswered questions that we may never get answers to. We don't know if Egbert and Cornelia split up, since only Egbert's remains were discovered,

but they were found close to Cornelia's belongings. Is it possible that her bones too, along with the bones of the two children, were out there close to Egbert's remains, perhaps covered up by some long ago dust storm? It's tragic to think about and impossible to know what their last hours were like or what was going through their mind. And this is something that I've been thinking about more throughout the entire episode. You have four individuals, two adults, two children, who we believe we're in a very precarious spot. The van's out of commission.

We're in the middle of nowhere. We don't know the area. We don't have a lot of supplies. Where do we go? I think for the two adults in that situation, that's a very tough predicament to be in. You know, you're responsible for these two kids, not only yourself, but these two kids. You've got to figure something out. But again, you're in one of the most inhospitable areas.

Yeah. And I just think, you know, we'll never really know what their last hours were like, but I hope that they didn't suffer and, you know, just as kids being out there as hot as it probably was and not having anything to drink, you know, I just don't even want to think about what they went through. Yeah, I don't either, but it's hard not to think that they did suffer. I mean, that that is, if you think about it, a very terrible way to go. No food, no water. That had to have been very agonizing. And I don't think you have to be from another country. to misjudge the southwestern United States,

and you don't even have to be in Death Valley for things to go wrong. Just this month in early March, 2022, a man from New York was rescued from hiking trails in Arizona, north of Flagstaff, two times in as many days. The first time, he got lost, and the second time he had been injured on Humphrey's Trail. There was a winter storm coming, so the heat wasn't an issue here. But luckily, the man was able to call for help.

In Death Valley, today, cell phone services spotty, thanks to only one cell tower. When you factor in the year of 1996 when the tours went missing and then being from another country, even if they had cell phones, it's even less likely back then that they would have been able to make a call to get help. Many hikers to this day will carry a satellite phone for emergencies when they're in Death Valley. And again, Morph, I think it just can't be overstated. this is a tough area in certain spots, you know, for, you know, your car to break down, to have to go on foot, you know, when you say even today, it's hard to make a cell phone call. Okay.

That really tells you something about the area that we're talking about. Because most of us think, yeah, cell phone coverage is spotty as I'm driving down certain parts of this interstate or, that interstate, but for the most part, I can make a phone call just about anywhere I go. Yeah, even if the reception's not great or you have to try a couple times, you can usually get some kind of signal. Well, and maybe today, you could still send a text or something. You know, again, when you're talking 96 is right on the kind of cusp of when people were really starting to get cell phones. They still weren't ubiquitous as. as they are today.

I don't know what it was like, you know, over in Europe, over in Germany. My assumption is they probably did not have them. These tourists. In August 2021, an entire family. A couple, their one-year-old child and their dog was found dead in Devil's Gulch Valley, in Mariposa County, California. And this is far north of Death Valley,

cooler, though still quite warm, as the family walked from the high elevation further down the trail, the temperature went from a nice 75 to a maximum of about 99 degrees. Investigators believe they all succumb to hyperthermia and dehydration. They had only one 85 ounce container with them and it was empty with one parent staying behind with the child and dog while the other went for help. But that parent never came back because they also just couldn't make it any further. This is exactly what may have happened with Connie, Egbert, Max, and George, but they also may have just waited for help. As for the children, it's possible they succumb to the elements first, or they may have tried to keep going, or even

tried to make it back to the van. Again, we may never know all of the answers here, but it seems pretty clear that there were no roving band of marauders. This wasn't a mad mac situation. I also think it's pretty clear that these individuals did not try to fake their disappearances. This was for people trying to have fun during a vacation in another country, completely unaware that they were ill-equipped for the journey they were on. It was a tragic case of death by misadventure. are in death valley. But I also think that this is a fascinating case, a fascinating story. It's tragic because you're talking about, you know, two adults and two children losing their lives. I think more as we wrap up this case, you know, there are a couple of things that that I want to

dive into that we haven't talked about at length yet. The first thing that that kind of jumped out to me is Egbert's request to his ex-wife for money. And there have been reports that that money wasn't sent. Now, I don't know the details around it. Did she just flat out refused to send it or she didn't have it? I don't know. But it's pretty much thought that there was no money sent. So you have to ask the question, What did that lack of money? And I'm not placing the blame on her at all here, but what did that lack of money do to kind of exacerbate their situation, right? They want to do all these things.

You're on vacation. You want to try to see things. But now you're doing it at a real disadvantage. Your budget is severely limited. So that means your options are limited. You maybe can't afford to stay at certain places along the way. So you're trying to rush it to get from one place to another. I think you have to factor that in.

Did it cause or at the very least exacerbate this situation? Yeah, I think it's easy to see them cutting corners and maybe saying, well, we'll drive, keep driving. We won't stop. We'll just rest in the van and we'll save a little bit of money that way. And that may have been what led them to go down this path to try and take a shortcut and get the most they could for the money that they had. You think about staying somewhere, getting something to eat, rehydrating, filling up on supplies. Well, now maybe you can't do that. And so maybe they were left with, we have what we have.

We still are going to get to Yosemite, but we're in. unideal circumstances, to say the least. And to your point, does that change your decision-making process, right? Do you try to take a shortcut that then becomes very risky? I think it's just all things to factor in. Yeah, what's scary about this case for me is it just shows that you can go out, you know, somewhat prepared. I don't know if they, if this family was fully prepared to be out in that situation. You know, they had a vehicle that was drivable, it had gas. They obviously didn't plan on needing all kinds of gear and stuff, but it's just scary to know that one mistake out in the elements out in the wilderness or a place you're not familiar with can lead to devastating consequences.

And, you know, just me thinking about next time I go out with my family in an area like this, where I'm not familiar with it, it's going to make me maybe take some extra precautions. Yeah, no, I think that's absolutely right. And then the second thing that I want to talk about is Tom Mayhood. I mean, this guy really stood out to me. As far as I know, he really had no vested interest in this case other than a drive to want to know what happened to these individuals. You know, he spent a lot of time, probably spent. a lot of his own money just because he wanted to try to solve this mystery. And you really have to

commend him because I think without Tom Mayhood, there may still be a lot of missing pieces to this story. I mean, there still are a lot of missing pieces, but we may have no answers without his dedication. And it kind of goes back to, you know, a lot of the true crime that we talk about, especially when you're talking about unsolved cases, there are a lot of people like Tom Mayhood out there who spend their own time, their free time, sometimes spend their own money to try to research and dig in and, you know, get to the bottom of some of these unsolved cases just because I think it eats at them at some people, right? They want to know the answers. Yeah, I think it just goes to show, too, that sometimes when you put the effort in, you're rewarded and you do have a result that,

like this one, where you find some answers. Well, let's face it, this result was probably never going to be a good one, right? After 13 years, unless these people had really faked their own disappearance and had somehow managed to set up, you know, kind of a second life for themselves, this case was always going to end up being a sad one. But at least we have some of the answers now. Thanks goes out to Sunny Lannon for help with research and writing in this episode. As always, if you love the show, but you haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, give us a five-star rating. Keep telling your friends who love true crime about a criminology podcast, that word

of mouth really goes a long way. If you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by searching for criminology podcast or by joining our Facebook discussion group, Criminology Podcasts discussion and fans. So Morph, that is it for our episode on the Death Valley Germans. But we'll be back with everyone next Saturday night with a brand new episode of Criminology. So until then, for Mike and Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.