CO CO - Joseph Halpern, 24, hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park near Taylor Peak, 14 Aug 1933

[Molly's Mom]

So this is an interesting piece I found from a Green Bay article in 1933. I'll just type it verbatim and post the source:

"No Joseph Halpern is listed in Green Bay directories as far back as 1927, nor can anyone be found who knows of him."

That was the last line in an article about his disappearance from the August 21, 1933, Green Bay Press-Gazette. I found it on Newspapers.com.

 

[Pennysmom1]

Case | Joseph L. Halpern

TrackMissing is a civilian-based, volunteer search and rescue organization that specializes in cold case investigations or searches that have been suspended or terminated by the agency of jurisdiction. We assist families and Law Enforcement...

trackmissing.org

Joseph Laurence Halpern (1910-1933) - Find a...

Joseph Halpern of Green Bay, Wisconsin, disappeared on August 14, 1933, while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park near Taylor Peak. He left his parents at their campsite, packed a few items in his knapsack, and set off on a day hike with a college friend. By mid-afternoon, the friend decided...

www.findagrave.com

 

[MadMcGoo]

He’s got 101 unidentified person exclusions listed in NamUs! Here are the ones from Colorado.

 

[cenazoic]

There’s some interesting inconsistencies of you look at places like Charley, the 2018 article in the Coloradoan linked upthread, and contemporaneous newspaper reporting.

1 - he’s often reported as being from Green Bay, WI. He was not, and I’m not sure how that entered the record. He was from Chicago, and had been working at the observatory in Williams Bay, WI. These two bays are on opposite sides of the state. I suspect this is just confusion in the 1933 reporting.

2 - he got his PhD in mathematics in 1932.

3 - Silvia Pettem and the Coloradoan story both say the friend’s name was Sam/Samuel. Contemporaneous newspapers report his name as JC Gerrick, JH Garrich, Joseph Gerrick, and similar variations. (See attached for example).

Anybody know where the name ‘Sam’ came from?

 

[cenazoic]

Well, good grief! Can't they extract DNA from the bones? They've got to test the skull some how!

Interestingly, an article appeared later in 1933 discussing Joseph’s case, and two others, including

A skull found in Lost Lake valley August 1 1927 offers the third riddle for the rangers. There was no evidence of injury on the skull and nothing was found with it to indicate whose It was nor how the person came to die.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Joseph Laurence Halpern – The Charley Project