on november 12, 2009, les walker and tom mahood, two hikers who were off-duty search and rescuers, searching for traces of the family, discovered the skeletal remains of two adults, one male and one female with identification belonging to the missing tourists near the bodies. although dna was recovered only from the bones of rimkus, authorities claimed they were fairly certain that the bones belonged to the missing germans. the remains of the children were never officially discovered although the sole of a shoe, possibly from one of the children, was found.