It's who may have found something significant.

So instead of home, my next stop is the Kettering Board Library, where Yuri introduces me to a man named Oleg Arkhipov.

Way have a new lead in the case.

Okay, what do you find?

This document was written in the year 1959 by Vasily Ivanovich Temple off the chief prosecutor in the region.

And it's written toe one of the investigators.

Soviet authorities didn't launch a search party until February 21st nearly 10 days after the hikers were due back.

While some of the case files have been released, very little from this first period of the investigation has been recovered.

So any new information is of major interest.

How did you come into possession of this?

This is the archive of the investigator in yet Katherine Burke.

It was given to me by his widow.

And so what's surprising about it to you?

Nothing date date is true.

Date says February 15 59.

It also states the prosecutor's office is aware of the hiker distance and he's traveling there to look into it.

That's impossible, but that doesn't make sense.

Their tents supposedly wasn't found until February 26th right?

So how could this prosecutor be headed to the region to investigate this?

On the 15?

This is a document that shouldn't exist.

Document does exist.

Its validity has been confirmed by handwriting and technical analysis, and he doesn't just use the date of the 15th in one place.

It's actually in several places on the document, but this isn't the only document that Oleg has brought to show me.

So there's another Roman numeral two for February.

This says the case started on the sixth of February 1959 59 then on the next page as well.

The sixth.

Do these documents prove that the accepted timeline of events here is wrong?

Yes, we think these documents may indicate that the deaths of that the applause of group were known by the authorities much earlier.

Is this a smoking gun?

It's possible if it is a smoking gun.

The thing that just got shot is the Soviet government's official story.

What happened in the 20 day gap before the official inquiry started Was there a cover up to hide chemical weapons testing?

Or was it something else?

They went to a lot of effort to discourage more questions.

Even in the post Soviet era, the government has resisted multiple requests to reopen the case.

Do you think that this case can ever truly be solved?

I think if we can get real cooperation from the authorities, we may finally get answers.

I like your optimism.

Thank you very much.

You're a pleasure to meet you.

Thank you for sharing this with me.

Thank you very much.

For Yuri and Oleg, these new documents are the thread that they're convinced will lead them to answers.

I wish them luck.

But before I return home, I have one more stop to make.

Between march and May of 1959 7 of the D out lost hikers were laid to rest here at the Mill Holosko Cemetery.

Despite the best efforts of the Soviet government to suppress news about the incident, the funerals were packed with friends, family and fellow students who came by the thousands to remember their brave young comrades.

I approached the marker that serves as the collective gravestone for the D outlawed hikers, and I am reminded of one of the stories from the group's diary.

It was 60 years ago, and young Alexander Colavita Toph celebrated his 25th birthday.

The date was January 30th 1959.

The hikers have gathered in their tent to give Sasha, as they call him, his present from the group, the rare gift of a tangerine, which he immediately divides into sections to share with his friends.

Moments like these from their story are a crucial corrective.

The dark circumstances of their deaths should never overshadow the light that was their lives.

As I leave Russia, I'm more determined than ever to bring some closure to this tragedy.

Meanwhile, I have my own thread to follow back in the States, so I've made it home from Russia.

My investigation continues.

The tests on the metal from Yuri's alleged rocket assembly have come back.

Analysis indicates that the panel is made of an aluminum alloy that was used in, among other things, missile construction.

Some experts believe it could be a component from a you are 100 a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile.

However, the first generation of Ur one hundred's wasn't developed until well after the hikers perished, Turning to the tree course, Our samples showed no evidence of chemical contamination.

Though we did find traces of radiation, however, they weren't strong enough to positively identify a major event.

And while it's true that two of the D outlaw group had irradiated clothing, Craven, Yushenko and Slobodan had worked in nuclear facilities, and it's entirely plausible that the clothes were contaminated there.

In short, if there was a missile test here, there isn't reliable evidence to prove it.

So where does this leave us?

Having examined and deconstructed many of the most popular theories, I believe there are two remaining possibilities.

First and most likely, a weather related disaster.

A flash blizzard with a devastating temperature drop or perhaps a small avalanche enough to force the hikers out of their tent and into a storm from which they couldn't find their way back.

And the other option an X factor, something we do not know.

A dare, a fight, a cascade of small bad decisions.

These were, after all, kids capable kids, but not above making a mistake in an unforgiving frontier.

The evidence here is both extensive yet maddeningly incomplete and until we fill in the gaps, the case cannot be fully closed.

However, we've just learned that Maur evidence may soon emerge.

I'm happy to announce that thanks to the newly uncovered documents in your Kettering board and the renewed interest in the D outlaw incident generated by our investigation and the 60th anniversary, the Russian government has officially announced they're reopening the case.

The full force of their forensics experts and a more transparent review of their archives could reveal the one for gotten puzzle piece that solves the mystery.