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The missing Canadian hiker Jeff Freiheit is dead. A team of volunteers and his family found the 32-year-old saturday morning at the foot of the Achselköpfe ridge.

Lenggries - A short video taken on the morning of the 2nd of August in front of the Brauneck Panorama Restaurant was the last sign of life for Jeff Freiheit. After that, the track of the 32-year-old, who was traveling alone on the "Traumpfad" - Fernwanderweg from Munich to Venice, lost somewhere between Tölzer and Tutzinger Hütte. Mountain Rescue and police searched for days for the 32-year-old from Brandon / Manitoba. Later, volunteers took over. It was them who found Jeff’s body on Saturday.

The volunteer search was structured by Susanne Williams. The 48-year-old wilderness guide has been living in Jachenau for seven years. After a business trip to the US, she heard about the missing person through a friend and decided to volunteer to help the family along with many others. For her it was "a matter of the heart," she emphasizes. On Saturday, nine volunteers - including the mother of missing, Kathy, and his best friend, a Canadian police officer - met near the Vorderer Scharnitzalm. After a short briefing, the circular search began at 11:20 in the dense mountain pine field on the south side of the Achselköpfe ridge. "Kathy saw his shoe a short time later and then his backpack," says Susanne Williams. At 11:40, the group dialed the emergency call.

The body of the 32-year-old lay, according to police, hidden within a dense mountain pine field. The recovery was carried out with the help of a police helicopter, two mountain guides of the Alpine Task Force of the police and members of the Lenggrieser Mountain Rescue Team.

According to the current state of the investigation, the police assume that Freiheit, on the way to the Tutzinger hut "may have strayed from the planned path and had fallen between 60 to 100 meters to his death" said Jürgen Thalmeier, press officer of the police headquarters Upper Bavaria South. There are currently no indications of a third-party interference.

Due to the condition of the corpse, an investigation at the Institute for Legal Medicine in Munich is necessary for the accurate identification of the dead, according to Thalmeier. In the backpack also found at the scene of the accident was the Canadian passport of Jeff Freiheit.

His mother, Kathy, had a great desire on Sunday to thank all the helpers who supported the family in the search. She is filled with "overwhelming gratitude to all who have been part of this sad journey," she writes in the specially-founded Facebook group "Volunteers searching for Jeff Freiheit," which has more than 500 members. Susanne Williams also emphasizes how overwhelming the great volunteer work of many volunteers was. "It was an absolute honor for me to work with them." She would also like to thank the operators of the Vorderer Scharnitzalm and the Bichleralm. "They supported us also."

It is also important to Susanne Williams that there is no criticism of the work of the mountain rescue team. If you criticize here, you do not understand how difficult a search for missing people is. She explains the procedure: There are different phases - In the first 72 hours after a missing person's report, it is conceivable to find the missing person still alive. The mountain rescue service - here in Germany a volunteer service - seeks in this phase with as many helpers as possible from a large area. That's exactly what happened after the missing person report on 10th August. For days they searched between Brauneck and Benediktenwand, later between Jachenau and Vorderriß. Up to 60 active people were on duty - along with dogs, the police force, drones and a police helicopter.

"The second phase, between 72 hours and ten days, is about shrinking the general search area," explains the 48-year-old. In this phase the mountain rescue team also helped search.

On August 17, efforts focused on the north side of the Achselköpfe ridge. The helpers roped off this area here to be able to search under the dense mountain pine cover. Since there were no further concrete indications of the whereabouts of the Canadian, the official search was temporarily suspended.

The mountain rescue team continued to support the family's private efforts and advised the volunteer team. For example, a map with "no-go areas" was drawn up to include areas that were potentially hazardous for rescuers to look in.

The team led by Susanne Williams shrunk the search area even more by searching on foot, by helicopter and by drone the areas of Vorderriß and Birkkarspitze.

In the third phase began the “most obvious” search. Meaning "From the place where there was the last sign of life, you go the way that the missing has taken" - and "with the eyes and the feet of a flat country," clarifies Williams. For each job an categorical assessment (high, medium, low) is made: Was the missing person here? Can you fall here? Would a fall result in serious / fatal injuries? Can the person here be easily overlooked?

The group moved its focus to the south side of the Achselköpfe ridge on Saturday. On the ridge, Susanne Williams discovered broken branches at one point - It was here in this fall-line from the ridge that the body of Jeff was found. “

Because of many requests from Canada, we decided to publish the text also in English. Many thanks to Rich Manfield, one of the volunteers, for the translation. We apologize for all mistakes.