Swiss Couple Found Frozen in Alps After 75 Years

A Swiss couple who disappeared in the Alps during the World War II was found mummified in a glacier after 75 years

On August 15, 1942, Marceline and Francine Dumoulin went missing after they went to milk their cows in a meadow located close to their house. Unfortunately, they never returned to their family of six children.

The bodies were found by a worker last week while doing routine maintenance. The bodies were preserved in the Tsanfleuron glacier, close to trendy ski resorts at 8,500 feet above sea level.

“From afar, it looked like small rocks, but there were too many in the same place,” Bernhard Tschannen, resort director said in an interview

As soon as he got closer, he saw a collection of frozen accessories: backpacks, watches, mess kits, a glass bottle and boots. All of them were decades old.

The bodies have been air lifted from the Alps after an inspector investigated the belongings and the bodies.

Their youngest daughter, 79-year-old Marceline Udry-Dumoulin, said that their children had never stopped looking for them, and hoping that they will eventually find them.

“We spent our whole lives looking for them, without stopping. We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day,” she said.

Their other daughter, Monique Gautschy-Dumoulin, said that her parents were walking to the valley in the morning of their disappearence. Moreover, she said that it was a nice day and that her father was singing.

Unfortunately, that was the last time she got to see her parents. She was left to take care of her brothers and sisters.

Their mother was a teacher, while their father was a shoemaker.

The Institute of Forensic Medicine will formally identify the bodies using DNA tests; however, the children are sure that they are the missing parents.

“I can say that after 75 years of waiting this news gives me a deep sense of calm,” Udry-Dumoulin shared. “Now, I know where my parents are.”

 

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