The Crystal Cave Murders : Brigitte Meier and Karin Gattiker
The last picture of Karin Gattiker and Brigitte Meier
On July 29, 1982, Karin Gattiker, 15, and Brigitte Meier, 17, took a biking tour to see the sights in scenic eastern Switzerland with its mountains and pastures.
They first headed for Herisau in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, where they had lunch at the house of Karin’s grandmother. They told her that an unknown man had taken a photo of them with Brigitte’s camera—it would become the last picture ever taken of them.
Afterwards, they continued on their bikes to Schwende, a ride of up to 12 miles, and spent the night in a hostel. The next day, they continued cycling through the canton. People saw Brigitte and Karin at the Sitter, a minor stream, where they cooked and washed laundry during a rest break before continuing to another hostel for the night.
That day, July 31, 1982, they were supposed to return home to Goldach. A family from the local town spotted the girls while passing near the Kobelwald Crystal Cave, located above the hamlet of Kobelwald near Oberriet in the St.Gallen Rhine Valley. Brigitte and Karin seemed to be lost.
What happened next remains a mystery, but in the following hours, the two girls were abducted and brutally murdered.
Their bodies were discovered on a steep hillside below the Crystal Cave on October 2, 1982, mostly clothed, with no clarity of whether they had been the subject of a sexual assault due to decomposition. It was obvious that the perpetrator had to be familiar with the area. Over the years, three cave guides, an architect from Kobelwald and a convicted sex offender living in the area were suspected of murder. However, the crime could not be proven against any of them. The case remains unsolved.
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