the death valley germans (as dubbed by the media) were a family of four german tourists who went missing in death valley national park, on the california–nevada border, in the united states, on july 23, 1996. despite an intense search and rescue operation several months after they went missing, no trace of the family was discovered and the search was called off. in 2009, the presumed remains of the adult members of the family were discovered by hikers who were searching for evidence of the fate of the tourists, and conclusive proof of the fate of the male adult was later established. a viable theory for what happened is documented by tom mahood, who helped find the tourists' remains.