Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Rauch, Author, True Crime Story Set in Pocahontas County Published in "The Journal of Spelean History", A&M 4464, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Content Description

An article written by West Virginia University Geology professor and cave enthusiast Henry Rauch about the disappearance, and deaths, presumably by murder and suicide, of Walter Smith and noted caver Peter Hauer in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, in June 1975. Ruled as a case of murder-suicide by law enforcement officials, the author explores alternate theories drawing on eyewitness testimony from friends of the victims and other evidence. The article appeared in "The Journal of Spelean History" in Vol. 52 No. 2, Issue 154, July-December 2018.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Crime and criminals.
• Pocahontas County (W. Va.)