Quote · Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder
Ep. 112 | The Death Valley Germans
Where this was said
The November 2009 Expedition
At 50:15 · chapter starts 48:00
On November 11th, 2009, Mahood and RMRU teammate Les Walker entered the backcountry with personal locator beacons, a satellite tracker reporting to a public webpage in near real-time, and a pack weighing nearly 65 pounds. They visited the van site and pushed south toward an alluvial fan Mahood had mapped as the likely search area. Day 2 began at 7 AM, the pair moving several hundred yards apart and communicating by radio. At 8:43 AM, Walker called: a 2-liter wine bottle with a label fragment still visible. A few minutes later: weathered pages from a German daily planner, printed text still legible after 13 years. Then: 'Tom, we have some bones here.' Mahood reached Walker at 9:14 AM at the base of a north-facing cliff — one of the only shaded spots for miles. Scattered across roughly 150 meters of desert were the things a family carries: a passport, a bank ID card with a photograph still readable after 13 years in the sun, a toothbrush, a child's shoe, and a wallet. Every ID card inside bore one name: Cornelia Meyer. Two sets of adult bones lay nearby, bleached white by years of direct sun. Egbert and Cornelia had walked 8 to 9 miles from the van, in street shoes, in July.
On day 2 of Mahood's expedition, teammate Les Walker radioed at 8:43 AM: first a wine bottle, then pages from a German daily planner, then bones. At the base of a north-facing cliff — one of the only shaded spots for miles — lay scattered remains, a wallet, a passport, and a photograph still legible after 13 years.
On the morning of November 12, 2009, Tom Mahood's teammate Les Walker radioed in at 8:43 AM to report bones at the base of a north-facing cliff — solving a 13-year-old cold case.
Tom Mahood discovered adult remains and personal effects 8 to 9 miles south of the abandoned van, confirming the family had walked that distance in street shoes through July desert heat.
