The Strange Case Of Peter Bergmann: He Was Found Washed Up On A Beach, But His Identity Turned Up More Questions Than Answers
At about 6:45 a.m. on June 16, 2009, a father and son training for a triathlon on a beach at Rosses Point in Ireland discovered the deceased remains of a man. It appeared as if he’d gone for a swim, drowned, and returned to the shore during low tide.
However, an assessment of the scene and inquiries into the man’s identity turned up more questions than answers. To this day, who he really was remains unknown.
The Strange Case Of Peter Bergmann
Authorities learned the man, who had no documentation and had cut the tags out of his clothing, had only recently arrived in the town of Sligo after taking a bus from Derry. He had a black shoulder bag and a generic-looking piece of luggage and proceeded to check himself into a hotel on June 12, 2009, using a fake name, Peter Bergmann.
The man paid for his stay in cash and also provided a fake address in Austria. Then he was subsequently spotted on CCTV cameras numerous times.
He was seen leaving the hotel on at least 13 occasions, carrying a purple plastic bag each time. It would be full of unknown items when he departed, yet empty when he returned. The police suspect he was discarding his own belongings, but the personal effects have never been recovered.
Strangely, the man also seemed to be skilled at evading other surveillance cameras around town. It appeared as if he was aware of “blind spots” in surveillance and moved methodically to get rid of anything that could reveal his identity.
Then, on the morning of June 13, he visited the post office to buy eight envelopes and stamps. The following day, June 14, he asked a taxi driver to recommend a good beach where he could go swimming. The driver proposed Rosses Point and took him there, but upon arrival, the man simply got out of the car and surveyed the area for about 15 minutes before getting back into the taxi and returning to his hotel.
It was approximately 1:00 p.m. on June 15 when the man checked out of his hotel. This time, though, while he left with his shoulder bag and purple plastic bag, he was carrying a different piece of luggage. It’s unknown what happened to his original luggage.
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Plus, by the time the man reached the bus station, he only had two bags with him instead of three. He ordered some food at the station’s cafe, and as he ate, he was reportedly seen repeatedly opening and closing a piece of paper. He ultimately ripped it up and threw it in the garbage before boarding a bus to Rosses Point at 2:20 p.m.
Over the following eight hours, the man was seen by an estimated 16 to 18 different people. His demeanor has been described as anxious or restless because he kept pacing up and down the beach. The last known sighting of him alive was at 11:50 p.m. when a woman watched him walk along the edge of the ocean.
The father-son duo discovered his remains the next morning, June 16. He had no wallet, money, or ID on him. After conducting an autopsy, it was determined that he hadn’t drowned, either; instead, he’d died of cardiac arrest, and there were no indicators of foul play.
Even more bizarre, the man had advanced-stage prostate cancer, ischaemic heart disease, and various bone tumors. Authorities noted how anyone with these medical conditions would’ve been in a lot of pain. Nonetheless, the autopsy found no drugs in his system.
The police launched an investigation, concluding both his name, Peter Bergmann, and his Austrian address were fake. They also didn’t find anyone missing from Europe or America with that name or who matched his appearance.
So, when no one came forward to claim the man’s body by September 2009, he was buried in an unmarked grave in a Sligo cemetery.
“There seems to have been a purpose to it. Everything he did seemed to have had a purpose, from cutting the labels off his clothes and all the rest of it. The question you have to ask is: Why Sligo?” said Detective Inspector Ray Mulderrig of Sligo Garda police station.
“If you want a scenic place to die, you’re spoiled for choice across the west coast of Ireland or even Scotland, for that matter. Something must have brought him here, even if we’ve never been able to say what that was.”
Since the hotel staff recalled how the man spoke English with a thick German accent, it’s suspected that he was from Germany or Austria. Still, he has never been identified, and it remains a mystery how he first arrived in Northern Ireland.
In 2013, a documentary entitled “The Last Days Of Peter Bergmann” set out to solve this puzzling case. The documentary’s director, Ciaran Cassidy, believes answers might be found beyond Ireland.
“I think maybe if, with this appeal, if it goes out beyond Ireland, to that central belt of Europe, maybe even Switzerland, possibly there is someone who might know him. The key is somewhere there, perhaps,” Ciaran stated.
Even so, the case has gone unsolved for over 15 years and will likely remain that way until someone with information speaks up.
“It is now a waiting game that may go on forever. I liken it to a computer that has gone into ‘sleep mode.’ When something new comes up, or someone credible comes forward, then we will move the mouse, and it will spring back into action,” Mulderrig noted.
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