Only On 3: Idyllwild Man Finds Remains Of Missing German Tourists

IDYLLWILD – Cornelia Meyer, her young son, her boyfriend Egbert Rimkus and his son disappeared in Death Valley in July 1996, lost for 13 years. Until Les Walker and follow rescuer Tom Mahood made an important find.

“I couldn’t believe that we actually came upon the remains,” says Walker.

For two months, the Riverside Mountain Rescue Workers spent their off-time researching the mysterious disappearance of the German tourists.

“Try to get into their mind. Where they would have gone having left their van, in this wash, in Death Valley, and where they would have gone from there,” says Walker.

Pictures taken by Walker show a wine bottle he found along one of the paths they may have used after their van got stuck in the sand. He also found papers written in German and a wallet, passport and I.D. belonging to Ms. Meyer. Walker believes the remains he found near the wallet are hers. The FBI flew in the next day to begin searching for the others.

“More of an educated assumption and scenario and the fact that we hit it right on the head. It was more of a surprise to us and it was nice to be able to bring some closure to the German families,” says Walker.

Cornelia Meyer’s father emailed Walker to say thank you for finding his daughter after all these years. And, the father hopes for the best as the search for the other three victims begins again.