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1996 Weber, Georg July 22,1996; Inyo County 10 YO
Topic Started: Dec 7 2006, 11:44 PM (387 Views)
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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/weber_georg.html

Georg Weber



Top Row and Bottom Left: Weber, circa 1996;
Bottom Right: Age-progression to age 17 (circa 2003)


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: July 22, 1996 from Inyo County, California
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: February 26, 1986
Age: 10 years old
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Blond hair, blue/gray eyes. Weber had a slender build in 1996. He is a German citizen.


Details of Disappearance

Weber was vacationing with his father, Egbert Rimkus, his father's girlfriend, Cornelia Meyer, and Cornelia's four-year-old son, Max Meyer, in July 1996. Photographs and vital statistics for Max are unavailable. They were all from Germany and were vacationing in California in the United States. They were last known to be at Death Valley in Inyo County, California. They bought a booklet at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center; the receipt for the transaction was dated July 22, 1996.
After leaving the visitors center, Weber, Rimkus and the Meyers apparently traveled towards the Panamint Mountains in their rented 1996 Plymouth Voyager. The road they were on was treacherous; it was steep, covered with rocks and spotted with sand bars. The travelers stopped at a camp and Rimkus left a German-language entry in the log book there. It read, "7-23-96. Conny Egbert Georg Max. We are going through the pass." Authorities believe he probably meant Mengle Pass, on the southwest border of Death Valley National Park. However, the visitors never arrived there; they turned off that route a mile short of the pass and drove east into Anvil Spring Canyon. Investigators are uncertain as to why, as the canyon is very isolated, closed to traffic, and not a usual destination for first-time tourists.

The whereabouts of Rimkus, Weber and Cornelia and Max after that are unknown. They were due to fly back to Germany on July 29 and had reserved airplane seats, but never arrived. Their rental vehicle was not returned to the agency and was reported stolen after thirty days. It was located on October 26, 1996, stuck in the sand at Anvil Spring Canyon. Three of the tires were flat. There was no sign of any of the missing people at the scene and their passports, Cornelia's purse, the rental car contract, the keys, Rimkus's wallet, all the money and the airline tickets were missing. Miscellaneous items were located inside the vehicle, including a sleeping bag, clothing and shoes, beer and beer bottles, a camera with several exposed rolls of film, an American flag, and two empty one-gallon water containers. A beer bottle was found half a mile away from the site where the Voyager was located; the bottle was the same kind that was inside the van.

Numerous searches have been conducted in Death Valley over the years looking for the missing German tourists, but nothing conclusive has ever been found. The temperature in Death Valley was 124 degrees on the day they vanished. The area is very dangerous because of its high temperatures; it was about 124 degrees on the day the missing tourists were last heard from, and no one could survive more than a few days in those temperatures without a source of water. If Rimkus and his son are still alive, they may be in Costa Rica and traveling in artist circles. All four cases remain unsolved.



Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Inyo County Sheriff's Office
760-786-2238



Source Information
The Doe Network
Vermisste Kinder
The San Bernardino County Sun



Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004.

Last updated August 19, 2006; casefile added.

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http://z13.invisionfree.com/PorchlightUSA/...?showtopic=6708

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The imageis a scan and isn't that interesting except for the butte itself, but that is best at the end of the day. The butte is in a remote part of death valley and the area is the place of a mystery:

In short 4 germans vanished here from the face of the earth and were never seen again or longer:

For a record 40 straight days in the summer of 1996, the temperature soared above 120 degrees As inhospitable as it was, four German tourists drove their rented minivan into it in late July of that year - and vanished. German architect Egbert Rimkus, 34, his girlfriend, Cornelia Meyer, 28, his 10-year-old son Georg Weber, and Meyer's son Max, 4, are still listed as missing," said Inyo County sheriff's Sgt. Jim Jones, who participated in the original search. "The investigation is still open."

The 4 tourists drove south and then west in their 1996 Plymouth Voyager van, heading toward the stark Panamint Mountains. For the van, the trail through rugged Warm Spring Canyon into Butte Valley "was definitely not a safe road,", The canyon road road ascends to an abandoned mining camp at an elevation of about 2,500 feet. Known for his adventurous spirit, Rimkus must have found the drive to the camp an exciting adventure, according to people who knew him.

"Egbert stopped here and left an entry in the log book that is kept in a steel box atop a short metal post." In German, it read, "7-23-96. Conny Egbert Georg Max. We are going through the pass." Rimkus probably was referring to Mengel Pass , near 7,196-foot-high Manly Peak on the southwest border of Death Valley National Park.

After stopping at the cabin, the minivan turned about a mile short of the pass and headed east along a sandy wash into remote Anvil Spring Canyon.
(from own experience I know that that road was not drivable fro a minivam, altough Charles Manson and his gang made it up that way in a Schoolbus)

Investigators familiar with the disappearance of the foursome are puzzled why they would have chosen to travel into such an isolated area.

In late July 1996, records maintained by the National Weather Service show that temperatures in Death Valley reached 124 and 125 degrees. For the unwary or overconfident visitor, the scorched valley can be a dangerous and even deadly place.

"It has been claimed there is no other spot so forbidding, so desolate, so deadly," writes Richard Lingenfelter in his classic 1986 book "Death Valley and the Amargosa A Land of Illusion."

"On an average summer day in Death Valley, you can lose over two gallons of water just sitting in the shade; hiking in the sun, you can lose twice as much!

Chances of anyone surviving in Death Valley without adequate water and shade were "about zero after three days."

In Dresden, Germany, the families and friends of the four tourists had expected them to return home by July 29. But their reserved seats aboard a Transworld Airways flight were empty.

When they did not arrive, Heike Weber Rimkus' ex-wife and Georg's mother went to the travel agency that arranged the foursome's trip to find out what had happened to them. The agency then inquired if the minivan rented by Rimkus and Meyer in Los Angeles had been returned.

It had not. Dollar Rent-a-Car in Los Angeles said the van was overdue.

The rental agent said the minivan would be reported as stolen if it wasn't returned within 30 days. On Sept. 10, a stolen-vehicle report was filed by Dollar Rent-a-Car with Los Angeles police.

"At this point, no one knew where (the four tourists) had gone," "The last anyone in Germany had heard from them was a fax that Rimkus had sent from the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas. In it he had asked Heike Weber to send money.

"That was the last contact. The money was not sent."

On Aug. 14, Interpol listed the four Germans as missing persons. "No one had any idea what had happened to them until Oct. 26, 1996," On that day, Park Ranger Dave Brenner was taking part in an aerial surveillance mission in a military helicopter over Death Valley's remote southern border. Below, apparently stuck in the wash at Anvil Spring Canyon, he spotted a green Plymouth van. Three of its four tires were flat. Brenner reported the find to the California Highway Patrol, which confirmed the van had been reported as stolen.

But there was no sign of the four German tourists. Until today it remains a mystery!
http://www.fotocommunity.com/pc/pc/cat/7234/display/7326222




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Sun, The (San Bernardino, CA)
July 22, 2006

Section: News
Many guesses, no clues on tourists

Author: Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer


Article Text:
DEATH VALLEY - The discovery of an abandoned minivan in a desolate sandy wash here a decade ago spurred a massive search for four German tourists.
No trace of the visitors was ever found, sparking speculation about the fate of the foursome: architect Egbert Rimkus, 34, his girlfriend Cornelia Meyer, 28, his 10-year-old son Georg Weber and Meyer's son Max, 4.
Close to 100 searchers on foot joined by eight on horseback and four helicopter crews overhead scoured a wide area surrounding Anvil Spring Canyon near the southern boundary of Death Valley National Park in late October 1996.
The search was launched after Park Ranger Dave Brenner, during an aerial reconnaissance, spotted the green Plymouth Voyager minivan on Oct. 21, 1996. Its tires were buried deep in the sand. Three were flat.
An investigation confirmed that the van, rented on July 7, 1996, in Los Angeles by Rimkus and Meyer, was not returned to the rental agency by a July 26 due date and was subsequently reported to police as stolen.
On Aug. 14, 1996, Interpol issued a missing-persons report for the four Germans.
Few clues were discovered in or near the minivan.
"No tracks were found which could be related to the missing persons," said Eric Inman, an investigator for the National Park Service, in his official report.
"No purse, passports, rental-car contract, keys, wallet, money or airline tickets were found."
Among items in the van were two Coleman sleeping-bag boxes, along with a new Coleman sleeping bag, various pairs of shoes, and clean clothing for a woman, man and two children. There was also a 12-pack carton of Bud Ice beer, two unopened bottles of beer, empty one-gallon bottles of water and apple cider and a Swiss cheese wrapper.
A camera, numerous rolls of exposed 35-mm film and a portable CD player also were found, along with an American flag, which had been taken from a stone cabin in Butte Valley, five miles away.
"A beer bottle was found a half-mile away that matched bottles in the vehicle," Inman said. "Other than these clues, nothing else conclusive was found."
Inman said the van's tires had cut about 200 feet of deep tracks into the sand, indicating the vehicle had been driven with flat rear tires. "Both rear tires were gouged, punctured and ruined," he wrote in his report. "The front right tire was completely flat, and the bead separated from the rim. Both front tires were very abraded from spinning in the rough gravel.
"Later examination revealed that the spare tire and jack had not been used."
Author and investigator Emmett Harder of Devore said little effort would have been required to jack the van up, remove rocks from under the vehicle, put on the spare tire and continue down the road.
"The grade was downhill enough to roll easily, even with the rear tires flat," Harder said.
The official search for the missing tourists was called off on Oct. 26, Inman said. But subsequent efforts to learn the fate of the missing tourists continued for years, conducted by private parties and search-and-rescue groups.
Theories vary widely about what happened to the foursome as temperatures soared to 120 degrees and above during the summer of 1996.
"I expect some day that someone will find their mummified remains under a rocky overhang where they attempted to find shade," speculated veteran Park Ranger Charlie Callagan, who briefly took part in the initial search at Anvil Spring Canyon.
"But in Death Valley's rugged outcroppings, you would have to crawl right up to such a location to find anyone's remains."
Most people who participated in the search parties agree that any remains most likely would have been disturbed by animals that frequent the badlands of Death Valley.
But many, like Callagan, wonder why Rimkus, Meyer and the children didn't hike the five miles back to the stone cabin in Butte Valley where they had found the American flag.
"There was water there," the ranger said.
"But in intense heat, people don't always make logical decisions."
With the loss of a little more than a quart of water, the body experiences the first sensations of thirst, wrote Richard Lingenfelter in his 1986 book "Death Valley and the Amargosa - A Land of Illusion." "By the time you have lost a gallon, you begin to feel tired and apathetic. Most of the water lost comes from your blood, and as it thickens, your circulation becomes poor, your heart strains, your muscles fatigue and your head aches.
"With further loss of water you become dizzy and begin to stumble; your breathing is labored and your speech is indistinct. By the time you have lost two gallons of water, your tongue is swollen, you can hardly keep your balance, your muscles spasm, and you are becoming delirious."
In its spring 1997 edition, an Inyo County newsletter, the Butte Valley Bugle, offered three theories that might explain the disappearance of the German visitors.
The first, which supposes the tourists made a decision to abandon the disabled minivan, poses serious questions, according to the Bugle. "Why would they drive down the relatively unknown Anvil Spring Canyon in the first place? If they got a flat tire, why didn't they put on the spare? (And) why didn't they simply walk back to Butte Valley?"
Did the German travelers fake their disappearance? This second theory postulates that Egbert Rimkus had substantial debts and wanted to escape his financial woes.
"Thus, he staged the disappearance with the hope that he would be declared lost and presumed dead so he could begin a new life somewhere else," the Bugle speculated, adding that there is no evidence that Rimkus had financial problems.
However, Heike Weber later said in a 2004 letter that Rimkus, her former husband, was in debt and had built a new house that he couldn't pay for.
Ranger Callagan scoffs at the theory. "That doesn't make much sense," he said. "If you want to disappear, there are better places to do it than Death Valley."
The third theory, according to the Bugle, is the most ominous. "In this version, the hapless tourists encountered foul play at the hands of the wrong people . . . who killed the Germans, dumped their bodies somewhere as yet unsearched, and abandoned the van."
Still other theories have been put forward. Retired engineering professor Dick Hasselman, who conducted a dozen searches for the missing Germans, speculates that Rimkus, experienced in industrial design and a co-developer of a rocket-propulsion system, might have driven to southwest Death Valley in hopes of visiting the nearby China Lake Naval Weapons Center.
His ex-wife said Rimkus "was fixated with the idea" of penetrating a secret area to observe tests of new propulsion devices. Rimkus, a first-time visitor to Death Valley, might have become confused about the route leading from Warm Spring Canyon over Mengel Pass toward China Lake. In that confusion, the minivan ended up in Anvil Spring Canyon.
Heike Weber believes the missing travelers are still alive somewhere, she told Hasselman in 2004. But Cornelia Meyer's parents think otherwise. They already have declared their daughter and grandson dead.
"I think someone, some day will stumble on evidence - such as bones, belt buckles or shoes - to solve this case," Harder said.
Looking at the facts and theories, Callagan sums up the case this way: "In the 10 years since these visitors vanished, there have been no obvious signs of them - no letters, no credit-card receipts, no cashed checks, nothing. It's one of those unsolved mysteries that still endures over the years."



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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/.../505400896.html

December 18, 1996

Clues sought for missing tourists
German travelers lost near Death Valley
By Karen Zekan
LAS VEGAS SUN
The mysterious disappearance of four German tourists from Death Valley this summer has investigators appealing to the public in hopes of triggering a memory that could fill in the blanks.

An extensive search coordinated by the Nevada Division of Investigation has turned up no hints as to the travelers' whereabouts since their car was found abandoned with three flat tires in a ravine off Anvil Spring Canyon in late October.

The foursome arrived in the U.S. in July, eventually making their way through California to Las Vegas in a minivan rented in Los Angeles by Cornelia Meyer, 33.

Joining Meyer on the trip was her son, Max Meyer, 4; friend Egbert Rimkus, 33, and Rimkus' son, Georg Weber, 10.

Records indicate that they checked out of their Treasure Island hotel room July 22, paying cash, and drove that same day to Death Valley.

A July 23 entry in a visitor's guest book in the national park reads, "We crossed the pass," and was signed, "Conny, Egbert, Georg and Max."

Investigators have no leads to explain what happened between July 23 and Oct. 23 when the minivan was recovered. Inside was: an American flag taken from a cabin in Butte Valley, five miles from the vehicle's location; a booklet on Death Valley purchased at the visitor's center on July 22; and numerous personal items, including photos.

A beer bottle was found a half-mile away from the minivan; its brand matched other bottles found in the vehicle.

"We are very eager to solve this case," said Terry Callison, assistant state coordinator for the Nevada branch of the International Criminal Police Organization.

"Their relatives in Germany have heard nothing from them," Callision said. "We want to make sure no one is preying on tourists. We're hoping someone saw them, maybe gave them a ride or know where they are now."

Disturbing to investigators is that temperatures ranged in the 120s the week the tourists were last seen alive -- temperatures which could easily kill someone traveling without water and air-conditioning for longer than three days.

A team of 45 searchers, eight horses and four helicopters from numerous law enforcement agencies combed the remote area where the minivan was recovered in October, a rescue effort that cost at least $80,000.

Investigators have ruled out foul play, although Callison declined to further comment.

Anyone who has seen the tourists or knows of their whereabouts is asked to call NDI's INTERPOL liaison office at 384-0415.


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http://desertblog.blogspot.com/
Ten years later, a Death Valley mystery still unsolved
DailyBulletin.com - Ten years later, a Death Valley mystery still unsolved: "By Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer - DEATH VALLEY -- For a record 40 straight days in the summer of 1996, the temperature soared above 120 degrees in this scorching natural cauldron in the Mojave Desert. As inhospitable as it was, four German tourists drove their rented minivan into it in late July of that year -- and vanished. It's one of the many mysteries of the Mojave. The disappearance of German architect Egbert Rimkus, 34, his girlfriend Cornelia Meyer, 28, his 10-year-old son Georg Weber, and Meyer's son Max, 4, has baffled officials for a decade. 'After 10 years, they're still listed as missing,' said Inyo County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Jones, who participated in the original search. 'The investigation is still open.' Clues are few. According to an independent investigator, author Emmett Harder of Devore, the travelers had bought an informational booklet at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center. 'A cash register receipt from the center's store indicates it was purchased on July 22, 1996,' Harder said. A day later, as temperatures climbed to 124 degrees, the tourists drove south and then west in their 1996 Plymouth Voyager van, heading toward the stark Panamint Mountains, Harder said. 'The dirt trail they were on used to be a fairly good desert road,' the author said. 'Big ore trucks traveled up and down this lonely track ... but now the road was being reclaimed by the desert. It was covered by loose rocks, large and small, as well as sand bars.' For the van, the trail through rugged Warm Spring Canyon into Butte Valley 'was definitely not a safe road,' Harder said. Climbing from below sea level, the canyon road ascends to an abandoned mining camp at an elevation of about 2,500 feet. Known for his adventurous spirit, Rimkus must have found the drive to the camp an exciting adventure, according to people who knew him. "The camp was once bustling with men and machinery ... now it is a small ghost town," Harder said. "Egbert stopped here and left an entry in the log book that is kept in a steel box atop a short metal post." In German, it read, "7-23-96. Conny Egbert Georg Max. We are going through the pass." Rimkus probably was referring to Mengle Pass, located near 7,196-foot-high Manly Peak on the southwest border of Death Valley National Park. In the middle of the plateau rises a butte of mixed lavender, blue and brown, Harder said. And just beyond that stands a stone cabin at the edge of a spring that waters a cottonwood tree. This is Anvil Spring, named by early prospectors who found an anvil lying there. After stopping at the cabin, the green minivan turned about a mile short of the pass and headed east along a sandy wash into remote Anvil Spring Canyon. Investigators familiar with the disappearance of the foursome are puzzled why they would have chosen to travel into such an isolated area. Among them is Dick Hasselman, a recently retired professor of engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Va. Intrigued by a news report about the missing German tourists, he wondered about their rationale for traveling into Anvil Spring Canyon, far off the usual route for visitors. "They didn't go to the usual (tourist) sites, such as Badwater ... or Scotty's Castle where first-time visitors are wont to go," said Hasselman, who has made Death Valley a vacation destination for three decades. "Anvil Canyon is a designated wilderness area closed to vehicular traffic," he wrote in a report last February that capped a dozen personal trips and searches into the area since 1996. "It is definitely not on the general route of first-time visitors to Death Valley." In late July 1996, records maintained by the National Weather Service show that temperatures in Death Valley reached 124 and 125 degrees. For the unwary or overconfident visitor, the scorched valley can be a dangerous and even deadly place. "It has been claimed there is no other spot so forbidding, so desolate, so deadly," writes Richard Lingenfelter in his classic "Death Valley and the Amargosa -- A Land of Illusion (University of California Press, 1986). "On an average summer day in Death Valley, you can lose over two gallons of water just sitting in the shade; hiking in the sun, you can lose twice as much! Without enough to drink to replace it, the loss of four gallons of water is almost certainly fatal, and even the loss of two gallons could have fatal results." According to an official report by the National Park Service, with temperatures setting a record of 40 days of 120 degrees or more that summer, chances of anyone surviving in Death Valley without adequate water and shade were "about zero after three days." In Dresden, Germany, the families and friends of the four tourists had expected them to return home by July 29. But their reserved seats aboard a Transworld Airways flight were empty. When they did not arrive, Heike Weber -- Rimkus' former wife and Georg Weber's mother -- went to the travel agency that arranged the foursome's trip to find out what had happened to the German tourists. The agency then inquired if the minivan rented by Rimkus and Meyer in Los Angeles had been returned. It had not. Dollar Rent-a-Car in Los Angeles said the van was overdue, informing the tourists' relatives, "The family has not returned the car." The rental agent said the minivan would be reported as stolen if it wasn't returned within 30 days. On Sept. 10, a stolen vehicle report was filed by Dollar Rent-a-Car with Los Angeles police. "At this point, no one knew where (the four tourists) had gone," Harder said. "The last anyone in Germany had heard from them was a fax that Rimkus had sent from the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas. In it he had asked Heike Weber to send money. "That was the last contact. The money was not sent." On Aug. 14, Interpol listed the four Germans as missing persons. "No one had any idea what had happened to them until Oct. 26, 1996," Harder said. On that day, Park Ranger Dave Brenner was taking part in an aerial surveillance mission in a military helicopter over Death Valley's remote southern border. Below, apparently stuck in the wash at Anvil Spring Canyon, he spotted a green Plymouth van. Three of its four tires were flat. Brenner reported the find to the California Highway Patrol, which confirmed the van had been reported as stolen. But there was no sign of the four German tourists.
posted by desertblog at 7/22/2006
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http://lang.sbsun.com/a1/072206.pdf
Print Friendly View Email Article
In late July 1996, a pair of German tourists, VANISHED . . .
Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer
Article Launched:07/22/2006 12:00:00 AM PDT


Editor's Note: The following is the first part of a two-part series on four German tourists who vanished in the Mojave Desert 10 years ago Sunday.
DEATH VALLEY - For a record 40 straight days in the summer of 1996, the temperature soared above 120 degrees in this scorching natural cauldron in the Mojave Desert.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photo Gallery: 1996: German tourists vanished

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As inhospitable as it was, four German tourists drove their rented minivan into it in late July of that year - and vanished.
It's one of the many mysteries of the Mojave.

The disappearance of German architect Egbert Rimkus, 34, his girlfriend, Cornelia Meyer, 28, his 10-year-old son Georg Weber, and Meyer's son Max, 4, has baffled officials for a decade.

"After 10 years, they're still listed as missing," said Inyo County sheriff's Sgt. Jim Jones, who participated in the original search. "The investigation is still open."

Clues are few. Author


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emmett Harder of Devore, who has investigated the disappearance, said the travelers had bought an informational booklet at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. "A cash-register receipt from the center's store indicates it was purchased on July 22, 1996," Harder said.
The following day, as temperatures climbed to 124 degrees, the tourists drove south and then west in their 1996 Plymouth Voyager van, heading toward the stark Panamint Mountains, Harder said.

"The dirt trail they were on used to be a fairly good desert road," the author said. "Big ore trucks traveled up and down this lonely track ... but now the road was being reclaimed by the desert. It was covered by loose rocks, large and small, as well as sand bars."

For the van, the trail through rugged Warm Spring Canyon into Butte Valley "was definitely not a safe road," Harder said. Climbing from below sea level, the canyon road ascends to an abandoned mining camp at an elevation of about 2,500 feet.

Known for his adventurous spirit, Rimkus must have found the drive to the camp an exciting adventure, according to people who knew him.

"The camp was once bustling with men and machinery ... now it is a small ghost town," Harder said. "Egbert stopped here and left an entry in the log book that is kept in a steel box atop a short metal post."

In German, it read, "7-23-96. Conny Egbert Georg Max. We are going through the pass."

Rimkus probably was referring to Mengel Pass , near 7,196-foot-high Manly Peak on the southwest border of Death Valley National Park.

In the middle of the plateau rises a butte of mixed lavender, blue and brown, Harder said. And just beyond that stands a stone cabin at the edge of a spring that waters a cottonwood tree. This is Anvil Spring, named so by early prospectors who found an anvil lying there.

After stopping at the cabin, the minivan turned about a mile short of the pass and headed east along a sandy wash into remote Anvil Spring Canyon.

Investigators familiar with the disappearance of the foursome are puzzled why they would have chosen to travel into such an isolated area.

Among them is Dick Hasselman, a recently retired professor of engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Va.

Intrigued by a news report about the missing German tourists, he wondered about their rationale for traveling into Anvil Spring Canyon, far off the usual route for visitors.

"They didn't go to the usual (tourist) sites, such as Badwater ... or Scotty's Castle where first-time visitors are wont to go," said Hasselman, who has made Death Valley a vacation destination for three decades.

"Anvil Canyon is a designated wilderness area closed to vehicular traffic," he wrote in a report last February that capped a dozen personal trips and searches into the area since 1996. "It is definitely not on the general route of first-time visitors to Death Valley."

In late July 1996, records maintained by the National Weather Service show that temperatures in Death Valley reached 124 and 125 degrees. For the unwary or overconfident visitor, the scorched valley can be a dangerous and even deadly place.

"It has been claimed there is no other spot so forbidding, so desolate, so deadly," writes Richard Lingenfelter in his classic 1986 book "Death Valley and the Amargosa A Land of Illusion."

"On an average summer day in Death Valley, you can lose over two gallons of water just sitting in the shade; hiking in the sun, you can lose twice as much! Without enough to drink to replace it, the loss of four gallons of water is almost certainly fatal, and even the loss of two gallons could have fatal results."

According to an official report by the National Park Service, with temperatures setting a record of 40 days of 120 degrees or more that summer, chances of anyone surviving in Death Valley without adequate water and shade were "about zero after three days."

In Dresden, Germany, the families and friends of the four tourists had expected them to return home by July 29. But their reserved seats aboard a Transworld Airways flight were empty.

When they did not arrive, Heike Weber Rimkus' ex-wife and Georg's mother went to the travel agency that arranged the foursome's trip to find out what had happened to them. The agency then inquired if the minivan rented by Rimkus and Meyer in Los Angeles had been returned.

It had not. Dollar Rent-a-Car in Los Angeles said the van was overdue.

The rental agent said the minivan would be reported as stolen if it wasn't returned within 30 days. On Sept. 10, a stolen-vehicle report was filed by Dollar Rent-a-Car with Los Angeles police.

"At this point, no one knew where (the four tourists) had gone," Harder said. "The last anyone in Germany had heard from them was a fax that Rimkus had sent from the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas. In it he had asked Heike Weber to send money.

"That was the last contact. The money was not sent."

On Aug. 14, Interpol listed the four Germans as missing persons.

"No one had any idea what had happened to them until Oct. 26, 1996," Harder said.

On that day, Park Ranger Dave Brenner was taking part in an aerial surveillance mission in a military helicopter over Death Valley's remote southern border.

Below, apparently stuck in the wash at Anvil Spring Canyon, he spotted a green Plymouth van. Three of its four tires were flat.

Brenner reported the find to the California Highway Patrol, which confirmed the van had been reported as stolen.

But there was no sign of the four German tourists.




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Death Valley bones may be missing German tourists
(AP) – 17 minutes ago

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Skeletal remains found in Death Valley may belong to one or more of the four German tourists who vanished in searing summer heat 13 years ago, authorities said Friday.

Two hikers discovered the bones Thursday in a remote area of the famous Mojave Desert park. The hikers were search-and-rescue workers from Riverside County but they were off duty at the time, Inyo County sheriff's spokeswoman Carma Roper said.

Identification for one of the missing tourists was found near the bones, she said.

"We're fairly certain" that the remains are those of one or more of the long-missing visitors, Roper said. However, formally identifying the remains will be a long process, she said. The cause of death also must be determined.

"At this point, it's being handled like a criminal investigation ... but there is no evidence of foul play at this point," Roper said.

The remains were found southeast of Goler Wash, a rugged area accessible only by 4-wheel-drive vehicles. The area is several miles south of the spot where an abandoned minivan the tourists had rented was found months after they were reported missing.

Roper said it would be a relief to solve a mystery that stretches back to 1996.

"I know a lot of people have invested a lot of their time and energy and emotions into concluding the case," she said.

The park near the Nevada border is considered the hottest and driest location in North America. The four who vanished in the 3-million-acre wilderness on July 22, 1996, were Dresden residents Cornelia Meyer, 27; her 4-year-old son, Max; her boyfriend, architect Egbert Rimkus, 34, and his 10-year-old son, Georg Weber.

They had arrived in the United States earlier in the month and were touring in a Plymouth Voyager minivan rented in Los Angeles.

They checked out of a Las Vegas hotel room on July 22 and arrived in Death Valley the same day, records indicated.

Temperatures in the park that week had topped 120 degrees.

The visitors bought an information booklet at the visitor center and then apparently stayed overnight in the park and the next day took a dirt road into a remote area.

An entry in German and dated July 23, 1996, was left in a guest book kept in a box on a metal pole in an abandoned mining camp. It indicated the visitors were going through "the pass" — possibly a reference to Mengel Pass, a dirt trail that crosses the barren Panamint Range, a barren mountain range on the park's southwestern border.

The entry was signed "Conny, Egbert, Georg, Max."

They weren't heard from again.

On Oct. 23, the locked van was found mired in sand in a ravine off roadless Anvil Spring Canyon, amid rolling hills at an elevation of 3,000 feet and far from usual tourists routes. Three tires were shredded and one had come loose from the rim.

Searchers found a beer bottle a quarter-mile away that appeared to have come from a package found in the van.

Inside the van were rolls of exposed photo film, sleeping bags, empty gallon water containers, the Death Valley information booklet and an American flag apparently taken from a stone cabin in Butte Valley, five miles away.

No tracks that could have been made by the missing tourists were found. No passports or personal effects such as keys, a purse or wallet were found.

A team of 45 searchers, eight horses and four helicopters from California and Nevada law enforcement agencies combed the area but found nothing more.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ge...0,3803592.story

Bones may solve mystery of missing Death Valley tourists
Rental van was found with four flat tires, but searchers never located four German visitors who disappeared in 1996.
By Teresa Watanabe

November 14, 2009
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A 13-year-old mystery involving the disappearance of four German tourists in the sweltering desert of Death Valley may have ended Friday, when authorities announced that bones that may be their skeletal remains had been found.

In a statement, Inyo County Undersheriff Jim Jones said that personal identification belonging to one of the tourists was found near the skeletal remains, which were discovered by two hikers Thursday in a remote area of Death Valley National Park.

The four tourists -- Cornelia Meyer, 28; her 4-year-old son, Max; Egbert Rimkus, 33; and his son, Georg Weber, 10 vanished in July 1996, when temperatures at the park reached 115 degrees. The Dresden residents had been touring the Southwest and had not been seen since signing a visitor register at the Warm Springs area at the southwestern end of the park.

Three months after disappearing, their dark green minivan, which was rented at Los Angeles International Airport, was found in Anvil Spring Canyon. All four tires were flat and tire tracks indicated that the group had driven on shredded tires and bent wheels for about two miles, authorities said then.

Only a beer can and other debris were found near the van.

Although no foul play is suspected, Inyo County sheriff's spokeswoman Carma Roper told the Associated Press that the discovery was being handled as a criminal investigation.

She added that it would take a long time to formally identify the remains and determine the cause of death.

Authorities have searched throughout the years but failed to undercover any further evidence until this week.



teresa.watanabe@latimes.com


Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
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http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13954012?nclick_check=1
Death Valley bones may belong to missing tourists
The Associated Press
Posted: 12/08/2009 03:34:20 PM PST
Updated: 12/08/2009 03:34:21 PM PST


DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif.—Sheriff's officials say they've found more bones in Death Valley that may be the remains of four German tourists who vanished 13 years ago.
Inyo County sheriff's spokeswoman Carma Roper said Tuesday that a weekend search turned up the bones in the same remote area where two hikers found skeletal remains last month.

The coroner's office hasn't identified those remains but ID from one of the tourists was found nearby.

Dresden resident Cornelia Meyer; her 4-year-old son; her boyfriend, Egbert Rimkus, and his 10-year-old son vanished in 120-degree heat during a trip to the Mojave Desert park in 1996.

A massive search found no sign of them. Months later, their rented minivan was found abandoned in a sandy ravine. Its tires were shredded.
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Inyo County Sheriff's Office
760-786-2238

Agency Case Number: 96-10109

NCIC Number: M-979899799
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http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/121719/27/

Coroner: bones belong to missing German tourist
Thursday, 17 June 2010
By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
6-17-2010

Bones found by investigators in Death Valley National Park have been positively identified as being those of Egbert Rimkus, one of four tourists from Germany who went missing in 1996.

Other bones have been identified as being those of an adult female, but were too dry to render enough genetic material for DNA analysis.

Rimkus, along with his 10-year-old son, Georg Weber, Rimkus’ girlfriend, 28-year-old Cornelia Meyer, and her son, Max, 4, were last seen in Death Valley during a recordbreaking heat wave in July of 1996. There whereabouts have been a mystery until November 2009 when two off-duty Riverside Search and Rescue team members, Les Walker and Tom Mahood, discovered bones and identification linked to the missing tourists.

There have been no bones found that have been identified as belonging to human children. Inyo County Deputy Coroner Jeff Mullenhour said Tuesday that he was very specific when he said, “human,” as many of the bones that had been collected were deemed “indescribable.” He said, as the Southern Inyo coroner, it is not uncommon for him to receive unidentified or unidentifiable bones from Death Valley.
Some of the other bones belonging to an adult female “had been out in the desert too long” and were too dry to extract enough DNA material to make a positive identification, Mullenhour said.

Since the November discovery, Inyo County sheriff’s investigators and Search and Rescue team members have made three separate searches in as many locations collecting bones and other possible clues. The search is being conducted in the Anvil Canyon Springs and Goler Wash areas of Death Valley. The area is rugged and remote four-wheel drive country – it took Mahood six hours to get to the site from Furnace Creek.

The van belonging to the tourists was found in 1996, but the tourists themselves seemingly vanished with only scant clues left behind. Many conspiracy theories grew from the disappearance, especially given the fact that no remains of the tourists themselves had been found.

Current Undersheriff Jim Jones, who was the lead investigator for the case 13 years ago, said the demise of the tourists was obvious. That year, Death Valley experienced a record 40 consecutive days of 120 temperatures. And, he said in November that he was not surprised it had taken so long for clues to start emerging due to the vastness of the largest national park south of Alaska at 3.4 million acres.
And, bones can move. They can walk away inside the belly or jaws of a predator or scavenger or get washed away by rains or flash flooding.

Sheriff’s investigators are planning future searches, but Mullenhour said he didn’t know when those would be.

Mullenhour said Rimkus’ family in Germany has been notified.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 22 June 2010 )

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