French skier who went missing 64 years ago finally identified, thanks to social media

A French skier who went missing 64 years ago has been identified after details of his disappearance were shared on social media, Italian police announced on Sunday.

The skier’s remains and his equipment were discovered in 2005 more than 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) up the Cime Bianche in the Valtournenche valley of the Aosta region, near the Swiss border in northern Italy.

Investigators estimated the man to have been about 1.75 metres (five foot nine inches) tall and aged about 30, with his death likely to have happened during the spring.

His death had remained a mystery for all these years, so the Aosta valley prosecutor decided in late June to post the investigation’s findings on his Facebook page, asking readers to spread the information.

Emma Nassem, a woman from France, heard the story on the radio and said the missing man could have been her uncle, Henri Le Masne, who was born in 1919 and who went missing after skiing in a storm near the Matterhorn in 1954.

Roger Le Masne, Henri’s younger brother, now 94, also came forward with more details. ‘I am the brother of Henri Le Masne ... who is likely the skier who disappeared 64 years ago. He was a bachelor and quite independent. He worked in the finance ministry in Paris,’ Roger said in an email made public by police.

Roger said he had gone to the hotel where his brother was staying for two weeks and found some personal items, including money, that had been left after he went missing on 26 March, 1954.

The police said a photograph provided by the family showed glasses matching those found by the investigators. A subsequent DNA test confirmed the identification, they said.

Via The Guardian.