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The last episode is a summary of the events and presents the most common of possible scenarios as well as a new personal account by the author. However, it remains up to the listener to figure out what really happened on that day in July 1982 and what led to the tragic and mysterious deaths of the two teenagers, who’s murderer may still live near the Crystal Caves.
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- Rudolph Isler
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What is Swiss Murder Mysteries?
Uncover Switzerland’s most enigmatic murder cases with our riveting investigative true crime podcast.
Before we start with the final episode, allow me to reach out to you with a short personal message. Having come this far, I assume that you found some enjoyment in this podcast. Podcast. I wish you to be aware that this entire program, from investigation to writing and recording, has been produced by one single individual, me, Rudolf Fisler, and without any financial backing from third parties. Over the course of more than 1 year, I have engaged in relentless research, travels, conducting interviews, buying recording equipment, and devoting countless hours to the recording process, all of which have incurred a considerable financial investment and consumed vast amounts of time.
Narrator:Every single 30 minute episode requires about 2 weeks of work. As a listener, you have the ability to support me by rating this podcast on whatever platform you are listening, by giving it a 5 star rating. Such a seemingly simple gesture significantly aids in the podcast's growth and helps spreading it across the world at the simple touch of a button. And if you find these 4 hours of complimentary entertainment deserving of financial contribution, you even have the opportunity to make a donation on the website, the crystalcavemurder.com. I assure you that this would be highly appreciated and serve as an encouragement and investment for me to move ahead with my forthcoming true crime podcast ventures.
Narrator:Thank you very much for understanding. But now let's get back to the case and focus on the most important questions. What happened on that Saturday in July 1982? Who murdered the 2 teenagers? Where and why?
Narrator:And maybe you will be, after listening to 7 30 minute episodes, disappointed hearing me say, we don't know.' So if you are frustrated now and switch off to podcast, I don't blame you. But if you are keen to hear of the possible scenarios and if you are prepared of making the effort to come to your own conclusions, then stay tuned. Having said that, all the subsequent scenarios inviably vary on more than one detail. All scenarios are mere speculations. For a pragmatic approach, there are a few open questions that we simply cannot answer with certainty, but that are instrumental to consider when trying to explain what happened.
Narrator:The question of how the girls were murdered is, as tragically as it may sound, of minor importance. In determining the events, the important question is: 'Were the murders committed by the crystal caves, or elsewhere?' If we wish to find out what happened on that fateful Saturday in 1982, it would be fair to assume that it was not a premeditated murder. Because, as explained earlier, no scenario, with the exception of one which I will explain shortly, assumed that the teenagers would be where they were at that particular time and day. Based on different interpretations, hearsay, and official police reports by witnesses, a variety of possible scenarios have emerged over the recent years, each of them coming in some variations. And, as you may have guessed, the scenarios are quite numerous.
Narrator:But if we boil them down, it would be fair to say that there are, at least to me, only a few that do make sense. Regardless, each theory is trying to answer the key questions and explain the contradictions differently. But not one of them, and I repeat, not one of them explaining all the existing and puzzling observations and testimonials collected over the past 40 years. And to make it perfectly clear once more, it is not my intention to accuse anybody. I have only collected what is known and I am now explaining to you the scenarios that exist.
Narrator:Some, I think, are more likely to reflect the truth, some less and some not at all. My name is Rudolf Eisler and this is The Conclusions, the final episode of The Crystal Cave Murders, an investigative true crime podcast by Playground Media Productions. All interviews were recorded in German and translated into English. All voice overs were done by speakers that are not related to the case. All individuals mentioned in this podcast must be considered innocent and cannot be prosecuted or convicted as the 30 year statute of limitation for murder in Switzerland was reached in 2012.
Narrator:The presumption of innocence applies. And, finally, all episodes were written without the assistance of Chat G. P. T. Or A.
Narrator:I. Now, before we delve into the existing scenarios, let me briefly tell you about another event in connection with the crystal cave murders that surfaced only last year. In 2022, Thomas Bentz, the private investigator, contacted the president of the Alsthein Cave Club with a request to have access to the archived files about the Crystal Caves. These yearly collected files basically contain everything that has a scientific relation to the caves. The discovery of minerals, cave dwelling animals, water levels, the precise measurement of the caves, and joining sign arms, for example.
Narrator:They also contain details about extraordinary occurrences in and near the caves. These files were archived in either boxes or folders, updated by the President and stored in a secure location outside the caves. When the current President went through all the boxes and folders, she made an astonishing revelation. The files of 1982, the year when the double murders occurred, were missing. Where had they gone?
Narrator:To find out, I called the current President. According to her, only the President and the representative of the Community of Cobblewold have access to the files. 'There are only 2 possibilities,' she explained. 'Either someone deliberately let them disappear, or they were handed over to the police in the course of the investigations and were never returned. The President of the Alpstein Cave Club in 1982 had left Switzerland in the early nineties and has meanwhile passed away.
Narrator:He was a close friend of 1 of the 4 cave guides that initially was also a suspect. There is even an account that these two men were involved in the hiding of the bodies and covering the President's 2 teenage sons that frequently hung out by the caves and were involved in the disappearance of the girls. But since this theory is based on hearsay only, and not supported by any facts or evidence at all, it is difficult to elaborate. But then again, this does not necessarily make it less likely to be true. Even more bizarre and unfounded was the theory of a journalist that published his own account in 2020.
Narrator:According to him, the bean peeling farmer that before his retirement was a qualified engineer was suspected to be involved. According to the journalist, the girls being lost at the crossroads went to his house to ask for directions and to call their parents. The encounter then ended with the girls being killed and the engineer disposing the bodies by the crystal caves after having them stored briefly in either his cellar or garage. Supporting his conclusion was, among others, the fact that the engineer, due to his working experience, was familiar with moving heavy objects. In an interview the engineer mentioned that the heavy slab of stone could have been easily moved even by a single person, simply by using a special pulley device such as the one he owned.
Narrator:To me, this is the least comprehensible of all the theories, and not surprisingly supported by not many besides the author. But it does show that only by living close to the location where the 2 girls were last seen, and being familiar with the terrain around the crystal caves, was already enough to make one a suspect. The same was, of course, true for the architect. But in his case, additional facts connected him much more seriously with the double murders. And even though having been found not guilty in a trial in 1987, he remains a prime suspect to this day.
Narrator:Here, then, is this theory. Shortly after the girls had arrived at the crossroads, an accident occurred. In other words, the architect came around the bend and accidentally hit one of the girls when she, for example, surprisingly stepped out of the forest and onto the country road. This would explain the damage to this car which she brought to the repair shop 2 days later. It is then further assumed that the girl was not on the bicycle when the accident occurred, because neither of the 2 bikes showed any damage when the police found them.
Narrator:With one of the girls injured, he had to act quickly, and not having bad intentions, lifted the injured girl in the car and told the other girl to get in as well. He did what in such a situation would appear to be logic: to quickly drive the injured girl to the next hospital. But then, for some reason, he changed his mind and instead drove to his country house that was only 3 minutes away. It could have been that in the process of this hectic drive he also damaged a car when parking it in the narrow entrance at his home. The 3 were met by the architect's wife and entered his house still with the intention to examine the girl's injuries and perform medical aid.
Narrator:But when the couple made the shocking assessment that one of the girls was dead, the other girl totally freaked out. The couple, too, was, understandably, at its limits, and a serious argument about how to proceed emerged. To either instantly report the incident or to keep it a secret. The latter solution supported because the decision to take the injured girl to his home was already fatally wrong and might have even caused her death. Nobody, after all, had witnessed the accident, except, of course, for her surviving friend.
Narrator:This basically sealed her faith. As she totally freaked out and wanted to leave the house, the situation got completely out of hand and ended with her being beaten to death with a blunt object against the head. The architect and his wife ended up with 2 dead bodies at their house and a friend that soon would show up for a leisurely ride in the afternoon and a barbecue in the evening. Hence, so the theory, the girls were hidden in their house, and while the architect went for the ride with his German visitors, his wife eliminated eventual traces. The dead bodies were only later disposed of and concealed by the crystal caves.
Narrator:When questioned by the police many weeks later, the architect conveniently used his meanwhile reported memory loss he suffered from the riding accident as an excuse to being unable to give a detailed account of the days when the girls disappeared. As explained in Episode 6, I have met the Architect and his wife. And I seriously doubt that this is even close to what happened. Of course, it would explain why the teenagers left their bicycles and belongings at the crossroads, simply because it was an emergency and there was no time for such details. And yes, of course, the Architect was familiar with the area by the crystal caves.
Narrator:And, yes, the car was damaged and brought to the repair shop shortly after. But is this really enough? In my opinion, a great many things don't add up. First of all, it is one thing to cause a fatal accident, no matter if guilty or not, and to murdering someone. One has to be rather cold blooded to decide on that path.
Narrator:Secondly, assuming he ended up with 2 dead girls in his house, would he really be so silly as to hide them a mere 50 meters from his house by the crystal caves on his own premises, a place that he knew is frequently visited by tourists and cave guides? Would he not have loaded the bodies into his car and driven to a remote location to bury them there? Furthermore, would not either he, or even his wife, while he was out riding, have returned to the cross roads to collect the bicycles, swiftly put them in the horseback trailer, and make them disappear? And, finally, would he really have gone to the police a few days later and reported a totally made up observation, having seen a car crossing him at great speed. Needless to say that the architect had 2 daughters that were slightly younger than the 2 victims.
Narrator:I talked to the architect repeatedly on the phone and I had met him personally. When I left, I was convinced that he has nothing to do with the murder. And, frankly, I have not changed my opinion to this day. Now, let's continue with the next scenario. This theory surfaced following the publishing of the aforementioned novels The Crystal Caves and The Twins, both works of fiction, both based on the case and initially the result of research by private investigators.
Narrator:A keen supporter of this scenario is the former police constable and partner of Thomas Pentz that founded the Independent Crystal Cave Murder Interest Group in 2017. And, by the way, it is the only scenario that assumes the meeting of the girls and the perpetrator did not happen by chance. During the time of the disappearance of the 2 girls, an attractive 30 year old teacher and ladiesman owned a flat in Zenwald, a neighbouring community of Oberiot, about a 10 minute drive by car from the cross roads. He is said to have been a regular guest at a place called Idyll in Rorschach, not far from Goldach, where the 2 girls lived. The idyll was a cafe where young people liked to meet and hang out in the evenings.
Narrator:It is assumed that Bridget Meyer also spent some of her time there, presumably without her parents knowing. According to unconfirmed sources, the Teacher had an eye on Bridget and was even heard saying that he would soon have her. Both of them being regulars at the cafe, the teacher met Bridget and at one point she told him about the upcoming bicycle tour. It was therefore planned that the teacher and his friend, a 10 year younger teacher trainee, would drive by car to the youth hostel in Schwinde, where the girls stayed on the Saturday, July 30th, and visit them. This they did and apparently they went for drinks that evening.
Narrator:When the boys brought the girls back to the hostel around 10 P. M, they hung out for a while in front of the building, laughing, playing music from the car stereo, and making considerable noise, resulting in the keeper having to intervene and ask for silence. The man then drove off by car and spent the night at the Teachers' apartment in Saint Wold. But before leaving, they had agreed to meet the girls the next day at 12 o'clock at the crossroads in Cobbleweeds. This implies that the girls did not get lost on their ride home, but that they took the slightly different route because they had to meet the 2 men at the cross roads.
Narrator:Once they had met, the 2 girls got into the car and the 4 drove away. They headed directly to the Teacher's apartment, approximately 10 kilometers or 6 miles away. Even if this theory is not substantiated in detail and is based on unconfirmed sources, it would at least explain 2 officially reported observations. Firstly, the car that shortly stopped at the cross roads and then left again around noon, observed by the man shelling beans at the open kitchen window, could have been the Teacher's car. Secondly, it was the very same car that the architect described crossing him at high speed on the country road when he returned home.
Narrator:What it also explained, to some extent, is the girls leaving behind the bicycles including their belongings. This, if one assumes that the 2 men did not tell the girls that they were going to his apartment, but perhaps only to the next village for a drink and a snack, returning to the crossroad shortly. So far so good. But from now on the story becomes somewhat less convincing and more bizarre. Finally, at the teacher's flat, sexual assaults by the older teacher occurred, including the eventual administration of drugs.
Narrator:The encounter finally got completely out of control and ended with the death of the 2 girls. How exactly, no one knows. It is also conceivable that even drugs or a overdose led to Bridget's respiratory arrest and Karen was subsequently murdered to keep the fatal accident a secret. In any case, is one to believe that version, by the end of the day the 2 girls were dead and the 2 men had a serious problem.' The theory then continues, saying that the bodies were temporarily stored in the flat or elsewhere, and that the perpetrators only made a connection with the crystal caves after it became known that the bicycles were found near the crystal caves. The perpetrators then decided that it would make sense to hide the bodies in the very same area, in order to take them out of the spotlight and instead plant a red herring among the cave guides.
Narrator:They then waited until the police search was completed and disposed of the bodies in a nightly action. Some sources even suggest that locals familiar with the area were involved. It is unclear how familiar the 2 teachers were with the area around the crystal caves. But it can be assumed that both had visited them before. I personally find it very unlikely that they would have shared the murder even if they declared it having been an accident with a third party.
Narrator:And as in the previous scenario with the architect, why did they not collect and dispose of the bicycles? They certainly knew that they were left behind at the crossroads. The teacher died in 2,017. His younger friend from an influential, well situated family living in Goldach, where his father was a political heavyweight in 1982, is still living and teaching. In 2019, when this version was first brought to the attention of the public and his name appeared, the now 62 year old man, meanwhile Professor of History, had filed a complaint against a private investigator representing this version.
Narrator:He won the case, moderate fee for public defamation. When I heard of this theory for the first time, I thought it would be terribly far fetched. Axel Peterman, the German profiler, also dismissed this scenario as being very unlikely. It did not match the results of his profiling efforts at all, especially with the perpetrator having been a local. On the other hand, he never really followed up on this version either.
Narrator:If the teacher had been familiar with the area, or in the event that he did indeed get local help, this scenario gains a lot of momentum. And with this we get to the final theory, which to a large extent I have developed based on my research and experience during the last year and more. And yet this version, too, does not answer all the contradictions and questions. But, more than any other, it explains, in a most comprehensible and logic way, the possible occurrences of the day. I must make it clear one more time that it is still nothing more than speculation.
Narrator:At the outset lies an assumption that everyone, including the police, had made, but which I think was wrong. Everybody that looked at the geographical situation and the map would quickly notice the approximate distance from the crossroads to the crystal caves, and furthermore, how they could be best reached. But I say the girls didn't. The tourist map they were given at the youth hostel was certainly not detailed since it covered the entire area of the canton. It is therefore very likely that it did not show the crystal caves.
Narrator:So when they finally arrived at the crossroads, and not having noticed a sign to the caves at the Fox Place, that according to existing information had been damaged and not been clearly visible on the downhill ride in the forest, they finally stopped at the cross roads and looked at the road signs. One of them reading crystal caves, pointing back into the forest and the road they had just descended. But what it did not indicate was a distance or a walking time. Nor was this information available on the large information board installed at the crossroads like today. The girls were curious as they read this and thought that the crystal caves are maybe only a short distance away.
Narrator:It could be an interesting place to visit. They were in no hurry. It was only noon and to reach their home would not take more than 2 hours. So they parked their bicycles by the roadside, leaving their stuff on them because they only wanted to check out how far it would be to get there. Maybe it was only a 5 or 10 minute walk.
Narrator:They set out walking along the road and back into the forest. Taking this road the distance to the caves is just about 3 kilometers which, considering the beginning being an uphill walk, would take approximately 45 minutes. But then again, the girls did not know that. After a certain amount of time and distance, the cave guide and innkeeper, being on duty that day, pass by them on his way to the caves. He stopped, or they even flagged him down, asking if he knew how far away the caves would be.
Narrator:He explained that they were lucky, because he was not only a cave guide, but also on his way to open them. Furthermore, he could give them a tour, if they were interested, and offered them a ride. They reached the entrance of the caves around 1 or 1:30 P. M. The cave guide, knowing that the German couples had booked the tour at 4 P.
Narrator:M, concluded that there was ample time to show the caves to the girls. Once inside, he locked the gate from the inside, as it was protocol, so no one could enter without permission. During that tour, things must have gotten completely out of hand, resulting in the sexual assault and the murder of Bridget and the subsequent murder of Charon that panicked and tried to flee, but only reached the locked iron gate. There she was killed by a hit against her head with a round metal bar. About that time, his colleague, returning from a hike with his dog, noticed the innkeeper's car and made his way down the steps to the caves.
Narrator:He must then have surprised his colleague that explained that a terrible accident had occurred, or in the worst case witnessed part of the murder or rearrangement of the dead bodies. The innkeeper succeeded to somehow convince his colleague to help him cover up the incident and hide the bodies temporarily in the back section of the cave the section that was separated by a second iron gate. There was still time before the German tourists had to be picked up at the Cobblewee's restaurant. Which of the 2 did collect them while the other hid the bodies and cleaned up the crime scene, I am trying to find out. It would also be very interesting to find out who of the 2 finally did give the tour.
Narrator:I could imagine that the murderer might not have been in a state to do this, asking his friend to take over. Knowing this would be absolutely crucial to support this scenario. All I could find out about the Germans was that they came from a region on the other side of Lake Constance. I recently had an advert published in the local German newspaper with the following text: 'In context with the non soul's crime we are looking for 2 German couples living in the Salem area that visited the crystal caves in Cobblewey, Switzerland on July 31, 1982. Unfortunately, there was no response yet.
Narrator:So once the tour took place and the Germans were gone, they left the bodies hidden in the rear section of the caves and returned at night with ropes and the necessary gear to upstyle and hide the bodies, cover them with stones and a heavy slab of rock. The overweight innkeeper could, under no circumstances, have accomplished this on his own. But, together with his colleague, it was doable. Admittedly, also this version has one weak aspect. Why would the cave guy that surprised the innkeeper help him cover up a double murder?
Narrator:Or even an accident? Frankly, I don't know. But maybe there was something between these 2 men that nobody knew. Or even worse, the visiting cave guide in some way witnessed or even participated in the murder. But, on the other hand, this course of action explains a few of the puzzling questions more than any other.
Narrator:The presence of the writing utensils found by the body of Bridget. The unexplainable loss of the sweater belonging to the cave guide with the dog. His wife having testified his clothes having been wet and filthy upon returning home, his repeated remark to his dog, 'If only you could tell what you saw.' The lights of a vehicle or a torch in the night after the disappearance of the girls. The break in and the missing lock This was simply a result of their negligence. Because when they returned at night with the key, they opened the padlock, but in the heat of the moment forgot to put it back on after having fetched the bodies from the caves.
Narrator:One of them had put it in his pocket and when he later realized this, had disposed of it. Returning to the caves once again just to put it back on would have been way too risky. The scenario also explains the position of the bicycles still standing at the crossroads and with regard to often mentioned 2 different locations or the leaning versus the standing, I think that the observation of the mother was unintentionally not correct. When they returned between 9 and 10 PM, it must have been already dark. According to my research, sunset was at precisely 9 PM, so the bikes could easily appear as leaning against the trees when in reality they were on their stands in front of some trees.
Narrator:It is also in connection to the location of the bicycles that I have come to the following conclusion. I am of the opinion that if the perpetrator had known that the bicycles belonged to the teenagers, he would have made certain to make them disappear. But they were not removed or touched, simply because when the innkeeper met the girls on the forest road, they were without bicycles. In other words, he did not know the girls were traveling with bicycles. Instead, he thought they were on a hiking trip.
Narrator:Because, would he have known of the existence of the bicycles and that they belonged to the girls, he would have made certain that they would not be found. A connection to the crystal caves and the hiding place of the bodies would be too quickly established. Something he would have tried to avoid under all circumstances. And I think this to be true for any perpetrator, whoever it was. It simply does not make sense to me to meticulously plan and execute a very elaborate and dangerous hiding place for the 2 dead bodies, and at the same time not to deal with eliminating an obvious piece of evidence that would easily give a clue to where the bodies were concealed.
Narrator:Now imagine for a moment the police would not have found the bicycles at the crossroad. The search area would have increased to a few 100 square miles or kilometers. Just because the family were the last to see them alive does not mean they had also disappeared there. Instead, they could have vanished anywhere between the crossroads and their hometown. And just for the record, the Innkeeper cave guide was questioned only 2 or 3 times by the police.
Narrator:Shortly after, he quit his commitment at the restaurant and left the village. He later worked at the cheese dairy company and then at the brewery. He never talked about the case to anyone. Instead, he hired a lawyer to protect his person whenever approached or connected to the case. The other cave guide and dog owner took to the bottle, was frequently seen alone with his dog at the crystal caves, and passed away in 2,008.
Narrator:A broken man, the constant suspicions and accusations had taken a toll on him. Today, in 2023, the case has still not been solved and is far from forgotten, Especially in the area where it happened. It last surfaced when the Cantonal Council of St. Gallen invited the Federal Assembly to amend the Swiss Criminal Code, so that the statute of limitations for murder would be raised from 30 years to non limitable. The Crystal Cave Murders serve as a perfect example, that, especially murder cases that date back decades, would be solved due to the latest and now common forensic developments.
Narrator:Regardless, the crystal cave murders will not soon be forgotten, and neither the 2 girls, Karen Gatteke and Bridget Mayer, that lost their lives much too early and under such terrible and unsolved circumstances. Will one of the most mysterious cases in Swiss criminal history be solved by chance? Or maybe by a deathbed confession? Will the mystery who had their whole lives still ahead of them remain an unsolved mystery forever? I am looking forward to any clues, insights, or possible theories that might help solve this case.
Narrator:So there it is, the conclusion of the conclusions. Episode 8 of an investigative and intriguing true crime podcast. That is, for the time being. As I write this, quite a few investigations, responses, and additional interviews are still pending. So it is quite possible that in the near future there will be new elevations available.
Narrator:Needless to say that I will share those with all of you. So stay tuned, click the follow button, give it a positive rating, leave a comment, or ask a question. All these options being available on the Crystal Cave Murders website. Finally, I wish to thank you all for listening and sharing my podcast. After all, it was the reason it was made.
Narrator:This was the final episode, the conclusions of The Crystal Cave Murders. Please do visit our website at thecrystalcavemurders.com for additional information, including maps, photographs, videos, and details on how to support the makers of this podcast. My name is Rudolf Eisler, and this was The Crystal Cave Murders. An investigative true crime podcast brought to you by Playground Media Productions. Available on Apple Podcast or any platform of your preference.