Radiolab - An Ice-Cold Case

Scientists' obsession with one particular man - and with the tiny scraps of evidence left in the wake of his death - gives us a surprisingly intimate peek into the life of someone who should've been lost to the ages.

Duration: 22m
Broadcast on: 19 Nov 2013
Audio Format: other

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

WNYC Studios is supported by WISE. WISE, the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the world. With a WISE account, you can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart, get WISE. Download the WISE app today. Terms and conditions apply. WNYC Studios is supported by Odo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odo at ODOO.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com. Wait, you're listening to Radio Lab. From WNYC. And NPR. Hello there. This is Jim Dixon speaking. Hello, Dr. Dixon. My name is Soren. I'm the producer for Today. You'll actually be talking to our host, Jad. He's on his way over to the studios right now. So that's good. All right, so let's just start the story here. This is a bit of tape we've had for a while. It's just kind of fun. It'll lead into the story in a second. Hello, Dr. Dixon. Hello there, Jad. Hi, how are you? I'm very well. Thank you. I'm always pleased to talk about my delightful obsession. I've had for more than 10 years. We'll lead to my marriage to a French lady. I'm not joking. How does the marriage to the French lady factor in? Ah, well, we met on email. It's a bit like you've got mail. The Hollywood film, well, I mean, my wife is sitting beside me and she's making signals. Well, what is it you're saying, dear? Could I ask you? Yes. Is there any chance we could talk to your wife? If she sit at my neck there. Yes. Okay. I want to talk to you, dear. Oh, yeah. Come on. Hello. Hi. I hope. Sorry. I am French and my English is not very excellent. Well, you're fantastic. Bonjour. Bonjour. He mentioned that Utsi was what brought you together. Yes, it's true. I was a teacher, a primary school teacher. She emailed me some questions about Utsi. Yes. And I answered them to the best of my ability. And shortly after, we were married. Yes. No kidding. So, Utsi is my benefactor, my friend. Okay. So we should introduce ourselves real fast. I'm Chad. I am Robert. This is RadioLab, the podcast. And so that guy, Jim Dixon, leading the botanist, called him four years ago to talk about this fellow Utsi. We're going to tell Utsi story completely in just a second. But there's something in the whole interaction between him and his wife there that just kind of captures how everybody gets when they get into Utsi. They get married or they get obsessed. Yeah. But it wasn't until very recently our producer, Andy Mills, and I happen to talk to this graphic artist named Aaron Burke, who is also totally obsessed with this guy. Yes. Yeah. I think there's this hunger on the part of the reason. That's when we really understood what this story is all about. Yeah. I mean, at least for me, that's where it all started. And since Andy's been reporting this piece, why don't Andy, you just take the ball from here? Okay. Do it, Andy. So story starts 1991 way up in the Alps. At 3,210 meters above sea level. I know you Americans don't think in meters. That's roughly 10 and a half thousand feet. This is a frozen glacial spot. And up there, walking around, we're two hillwalkers. Two hillwalkers, hikers, hikers. It was a German couple, a man and wife. It was early in the afternoon. And at some point, they'd take a notion to head off trail. And there were only 100 yards off the beaten track. And after just a few minutes, they round a little rock and that's when they were stopped dead in their tracks. By what? By a corpse. A corpse sticking out of the ice.

He was lying on his stomach. Faced down in the ice. He was gonna drape over a big boulder. His legs are buried under the ice up to his hips and his top path is just sticking out. His left arm is kind of under his forehead, almost like a school boy falling asleep in class on his arm. So these two hikers, they see this and they run off for help. They're hot fitted to the nearby

Transcription truncated.