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E033: YOGTZE
1.5k Plays5 years ago
What do you get when you combine a cipher, an odd loss of consciousness, and two car accidents in one night? You get a case referred to as the Audubon Riddle, or the YOGTZE case. Listen to this week’s episode to see if YOU can solve the mystery.
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Transcript
Introduction and Personal Reflections
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to Coffee and Cases. I am very sad, sleuth hounds, to report that Maggie and I are still keeping our distance. I had honestly hoped to report this week that we were back together again, but
00:00:17
Speaker
The good news is that I am a long-term planner. I mean that I'm one of those people who always focused on the long-term goals in life and could then backtrack to the short-term goals to get me to that end destination.
Podcast Format Changes and Listener Safety
00:00:33
Speaker
And that skill has really helped me through this ordeal called COVID-19. I know that all of these current inconveniences are designed so we can have a much more positive
00:00:47
Speaker
end-term situation. So while I am sad that I am not with Maggie this week and I don't like it, I at least understand the why.
00:00:59
Speaker
So if you're new to coffee and cases, please know that our podcast has changed slightly as our world is continuing to adjust to this global pandemic. While we're being asked to keep our distance from others, to stay inside when possible, and to not gather in large groups, we ask that you bear with us as our podcast has changed a little as well. Until we can return to normal, take care of yourselves.
00:01:26
Speaker
I know it's hard, but try to see that end goal. Know that things may look different than they did before, and even in the end they may look different. More people will likely be on edge because we get nervous when we face the unknown, but continue to love one another anyway.
00:01:46
Speaker
do what's best for others, not just what's best for you, and be the global citizens that we all wish to see in the world, then we will all be in a happier tomorrow. So thank you for bearing with us and for understanding we care about you. Stay together, united in the human spirit, even if not physically, and stay safe. Now, onto this week's episode.
Puzzles and True Crime Fascination
00:02:14
Speaker
I am a girl who loves puzzles. Every summer I go to the grocery store and I stock up obviously on groceries. My husband gets on to me for buying too many groceries all the time but I can't help myself. But I also stock up on those variety puzzle books that are mixed in with the magazines. I love the puzzles like
00:02:40
Speaker
anagram magic squares and silicrostics and quote falls and logic problems. I love to try to decipher things, to find patterns, to make associations, and to find discrepancies.
00:02:55
Speaker
And I'm guessing that most of us true crime fans have that trait. It's what makes us love the mystery. It's that idea that maybe we will see something. Notice the relationship between details that no one else has to help find closure.
00:03:14
Speaker
to find justice. It's why Maggie and I not only love doing what we do, but it's also why we love sharing these cases each week with all of you, the cases that are as yet unsolved. And notice I said as yet, I am a full believer in the phrase that I've read in Jeffrey Chaucer's literary works that murder will out.
00:03:39
Speaker
It may take time, but eventually the right detail will emerge or the right person will hear the details and figure out the case.
Introduction to the Yahtzee Case
00:03:50
Speaker
Justice will be served. Now, the cases Maggie and I cover are, of course, not the easy open and shut cases. Instead, these are the cases that have been cold for years, if not decades.
00:04:02
Speaker
And our case today, Sleuthhounds, is a real bonafide head scratcher. The details will leave you curious. The cipher, yep, I said it, a potential secret code, will leave you dumbfounded. But despite all of that, it does get us all doing the most important thing for cold cases.
00:04:27
Speaker
thinking and rethinking about old clues until maybe that right person will hear them and solve the puzzle. This is the story of the Autobahn Riddle, the Yahtzee Case.
Engaging with the Audience on Social Media
00:05:17
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold.
00:05:22
Speaker
My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement.
00:05:33
Speaker
So justice and closure can be brought to these families. With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:05:55
Speaker
Before I begin our show today, I want to take a quick moment to remind you about our challenge. You guys are so awesome. We are so excited. And even though Maggie and I have upped the ante with this one, we have a lofty goal of getting to 150 ratings on iTunes. We are currently sitting at 95, including
00:06:18
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three new written comments just this past week and you'd better believe that you three who made those comments made us call each other right away squealing with joy and jumping up and down but for those listeners out there
00:06:36
Speaker
over whom we have not yet gotten to squeal with joy. Never fear. It only takes a split second if you are listening to us on iTunes to click for that five-star rating and to leave us a few words about what you enjoy most about the podcast.
00:06:51
Speaker
We have listeners from all over the world, as I mentioned in my last episode, with my long litany of those countries. So while this is a big ask, we know that you can do it. We know that it will take longer than last time, but once we get to 150 ratings, Maggie and I will do another bonus episode. Just make sure you follow us on social media, Coffee and Cases podcast on Facebook, or at Coffee Cases podcast on Instagram, or as always, listen in each week to know when that bonus episode will air.
00:07:21
Speaker
Now, let's get into our show. I don't recall if I've shared this with you listeners yet, but I've seen death in front of me.
00:07:35
Speaker
One was a fireworks explosion that killed a very young, distant cousin of mine at a family reunion, and it still leaves me terrified of any firework that's larger than a sparkler. So, side note, please, sleuth hounds, be careful in your 4th of July celebrations if you live here in the U.S.
00:07:57
Speaker
But the second time I saw death was when I was in high school. And my boyfriend at the time and I came upon a car accident. I saw on the left over an embankment, the quickly spinning wheels of an overturned vehicle. I yelled for my boyfriend to pull over. And as he ran to the nearest house to call 911, this was obviously before cell phones were as popular as they are now, neither of us had one, I saw
00:08:27
Speaker
The young man crushed in the cab of the overturned truck. It was a boy my own age with whom I had attended school from kindergarten through seventh grade before my mom and I had moved. And that's a sight you don't soon forget either.
00:08:47
Speaker
So because of that experience, I can understand the anxiety, the dread, the adrenaline mixture that two truck drivers felt when at 3 a.m. they came up on the scene of a vehicle accident on October 26, 1984, near the Hagenzüd exit, 100 kilometers, roughly 60 miles from Heiger-Sielbach, Germany, and ran over to help.
The Incident with Gunter Stoll
00:09:17
Speaker
When the two truckers, neither of whom are named in any of the research I completed, came upon the light blue Volkswagen Golf in a ditch off of the Autobahn A45, they knew it was a bad accident. When the two men approached the car, however, what they likely noticed first wasn't the blood, but they were instead likely awestruck by the oddity of the scene in front of them.
00:09:45
Speaker
The only person in the car was seated in the passenger seat, not the driver's seat, and even more curious, he was completely naked. One of the truck drivers called for medical help while the other driver stayed with the passenger, talking to him, trying to keep him calm and conscious. The driver who remained speaking with the passenger found out that his name was Gunter Stoll.
00:10:14
Speaker
He also told the truckers that he had been riding with four other men who had all left the scene. Reportedly, the truck driver asked if the men were Gunter's friends, to which he replied that they were not, and what's more, that they had quote, beat him loose, end quote.
00:10:32
Speaker
The truckers were able to keep the barely conscious Gunter Stoll responsive by asking these questions until the ambulance arrived. Unfortunately, Gunter died on the way to the hospital. Now, Sleuth Hounds, you may be thinking, so far, this sounds like a simple car accident, minus the fact that Gunter Stoll had been riding with Foreman. He didn't know that they had abandoned him and that he was naked.
00:11:00
Speaker
It almost sounds, to me, like some hazing initiation gone wrong. But when police began to interview those close to Gunter or the scene of the accident, a far more bizarre scenario began to emerge.
00:11:17
Speaker
The truck drivers who discovered the accident and called for medical help were interviewed separately. In those separate interviews, each reported that he had seen an injured man in a bright white coat walking around the wrecked car and that when the truckers began approaching, fled the scene of the accident.
00:11:39
Speaker
That man in the white coat, despite extensive police work and investigation, has not only never been found, but has never even been identified. Additionally, even now, 35 years later, we also do not know the identity of a single one of the four men Gunter stated had been in the car with him. Gunter Stoll's autopsy, however, is really what made authorities take pause.
00:12:07
Speaker
The injuries he had sustained were not consistent with the vehicle accident in which he was involved where the two truckers found him. This meant that Gunter had been injured elsewhere before the accident and had actually then been placed in the passenger seat of his own vehicle, the Volkswagen Golf.
00:12:31
Speaker
Instead, the only conclusion authorities could draw from the injuries was that Gunter had indeed been in an accident, not one in which he had been in a car which had been in an accident, but one in which he had been hit by a car, a car that was not his own Volkswagen Golf, and in a place that was not the scene of this accident.
Analyzing Gunter's Injuries and Foul Play
00:12:57
Speaker
Gunter's injuries were the result of vehicular manslaughter.
00:13:01
Speaker
not an accident. Police also determined that he likely was already naked when he had been run over by the car. No one, however, had witnessed that accident either. We don't even know if Gunter was placed in the passenger seat of his Volkswagen before the car accident that was discovered by the truckers or after.
00:13:28
Speaker
The only clues came from other drivers near the Huygensud exit, close to the time that the Volkswagen was discovered. One who reported seeing a pickup truck at the ramp, a vehicle that was never located to follow up, and another who reported seeing a hitchhiker near the exit, who was also never found.
00:13:50
Speaker
But neither of those clues would explain to me who had hit Gunter Stoll, where they had hit him, why he was stripped of his clothing or had stripped himself, why he was taken from the scene of that first accident, where they were headed, nor why they had taken Gunter's car to go there. The scene of the first crime, my sleuth hounds, where he had been run over by the car was also, you guessed it,
00:14:21
Speaker
never located. So with little to go on, authorities began searching into Gunter Stoll's past in an attempt to find answers.
Gunter's Paranoia and Mental Health Questions
00:14:31
Speaker
What they found, just when they didn't think that the case could get any weirder, only added to the mystery.
00:14:39
Speaker
Gunter had no criminal history. There were rumors that he had recently gotten involved in a drug ring in order to make money since he was now unemployed. However, none of those rumors seemed to be substantiated in any of the research that I read. What we do know from his wife is that Gunter Stoll had been for the past year suffering from acute paranoia.
00:15:06
Speaker
He had continually reported to her, panicked, that they were after him. This vague paranoia reminded me of the Blair Adams case that Maggie and I covered, another man who was discovered with odd injuries and in an odd place.
00:15:25
Speaker
I'll be the first to admit I am not an expert in psychological disorders, but I did do a little bit of digging and research and these types of delusions that someone is out there to hurt the person are called persecutory delusions. They're often linked to mental illnesses, most commonly schizophrenia, hence the diagnosis, paranoid schizophrenia.
00:15:50
Speaker
I did not see any diagnosis of Gunter Stoll with paranoid schizophrenia, and I am not a medical expert. However, he did suffer from paranoid delusions of a shadowy they who were watching him and out to hurt him. But he also, to me, suffered from another common symptom of an altered perception of reality, talking in an odd or confusing way.
00:16:19
Speaker
Let me illustrate with what happened mere hours before stole was discovered by the two truckers.
00:16:28
Speaker
According to multiple sources I found, on the night before the accident, on October 25, 1984, Gunter Stoll had been enjoying an evening at home with his wife. Gunter was seated comfortably in a chair in his bedroom, when he suddenly jumped up and shouted something. I will not so sounds attempt to say what he said in German. Though he said it in German, I am proud enough of myself for attempting the names of the towns, but translated
00:16:58
Speaker
He yelled, now I get it. He then proceeded to grab a piece of paper and write the following cipher.
The Unsolved YOG'TZE Cipher
00:17:08
Speaker
Y-O-G apostrophe T-Z-E. Yodzy. Or as some believe that the G apostrophe is actually a 6. Y-O-6 T-Z-E.
00:17:26
Speaker
But then he scratched it out before leaving the house in Anzhausen and heading to a local pub in Vilnstorff. Because no one has ever figured out what this coded word means. This is why this case is often referred to as the Jagdzi case or the Autobahn Riddle.
00:17:50
Speaker
Once he left his house and went to that local pub, patrons remember seeing him around 11 pm and the reason they remember seeing him is because they reported that Gunter had ordered a beer and most of these patrons said it this way that before he had even taken a sip, so by all accounts definitely not intoxicated, he lost consciousness
00:18:17
Speaker
collapsed, fell off of his barstool, and injured his face in the fall. What could have caused this sudden loss of consciousness? You guessed it? We don't know. When he did come to, he promptly left the pub, but he didn't head home to his wife. Instead, he drove to Heiger-Sielbach, where he had grown up.
00:18:45
Speaker
At least his hometown was only, according to the article, Jagdzi, the unexplained death of Gunter, stole by Alice Wax, six miles from the pub. So not a long distance away. And we verified Gunter's presence there because he showed up at 1 a.m. nonetheless at the door of an elderly woman who had been a family friend when Gunter was growing up.
00:19:14
Speaker
What had happened in the two hours after he was at the pub and before he showed up on the doorstep of a friend only six miles away is a mystery as well. Where did he go? What did he do? Who did he speak with in that time span? Now, understandably, when Gunter showed up at the woman's house in the middle of the night, she was uncomfortable and she did not invite him in.
00:19:43
Speaker
In the time he was at her house, she told authorities that he was rambling what seemed like nonsense, something about how he was going to be involved in a, quote, horrible accident, end quote, according to that same article by Alice Wax. Perhaps fearing for her own safety, she suggested that it would be best if Gunter either went home to his wife or went to his parents' home to stay the night.
00:20:11
Speaker
Gunter Stoll didn't either. He did not go home to his wife. He did not go to his parents' home. Instead, two hours later, at 3 a.m. on October 26th, his car was found in that ditch off of the Autobahn by the two truckers. Here we have yet another two-hour time span in which we have no clue of Gunter's whereabouts, his activities.
00:20:42
Speaker
I know that these two hours were early in the morning, between 1 and 3 a.m., so I understand that fewer people might have been aware of what Gunter was doing, right, than they would have been between 11 and 1, that other two-hour time span in which we don't know where Gunter was. But despite that, I still find it a bit hard to imagine. Since Gunter obviously had no qualms about waking up an elderly woman at 1 a.m.,
00:21:09
Speaker
I find it hard to believe that he didn't speak to another person until he was found naked in that passenger seat, that no one saw him, that he called no one, that he just vanished again for a two-hour period. With so many odd details surrounding that night, the sighting of a stranger in a white jacket by the truckers
00:21:33
Speaker
The fact that injuries proved Gunter had been run over by a car, the police had no choice but to rule his death a murder.
Exploring Theories Behind Gunter's Death
00:21:42
Speaker
After all, that, paired with being naked and others fleeing the scene, show it wasn't an accident, and you can't run over your own self with a car.
00:21:54
Speaker
Sadly, sleuthhounds, from what I research, there are no theories concerning who might have run over Gunter, nor who left him for dead. The only theorizing I've seen is about what the I've Got It Yoggzy message might truly mean, especially since those letters in that order relate to no known word in any language.
00:22:20
Speaker
Before we take a moment to look at those, let me also tell you that Gundrasol's wife had actually gotten rid of his actual written message before she spoke with police. So the whole message of YoggZee or Y-O-6-T-Z-E was from her memory, her recollection of what she had seen on the paper. Even a single letter could be added, changed, or forgotten.
00:22:50
Speaker
memory slippery. Additionally, she reported that he had crossed out the whole word, which makes me wonder was the final letter really an E? Could it have been a bracket? An N written sideways? I mean, these are the questions that we must continue asking ourselves. In the meantime, here are some of the common theories surrounding the message. Number one, a drug ring.
00:23:17
Speaker
Perhaps the elusive they of whom Gunter had spoken to his wife were not so elusive after all. This theory posits that Gunter somehow trying to make ends meet had become involved in a drug ring and that his paranoia as well as the subsequent death were actually the result of a drug deal gone wrong. To me, that seems too easy. And again, as I reported at the beginning of this episode,
00:23:44
Speaker
I could not find that substantiated anywhere. Again, Gunter had no criminal history. Number two. Could it be a license plate number? Many people argue that this phrase matches a potential license plate, but whose? And why was he trying to remember it?
00:24:05
Speaker
Was it related to his paranoia? Had he seen a car earlier that day that to him looked suspicious and it fit into his delusion that he was in danger? Or, a bit more mystical, was it a premonition of what was to come that night? After all, he additionally spoke with the older woman who he knew from childhood about a horrible accident that would happen to him that night.
00:24:32
Speaker
Was the cipher the license plate of the car that had run over him? Number three. Others believe that the phrase Yogg Z is an anagram, where if you rearrange the letters, you see the true word he meant. In this case, they argue that that word was zygote.
00:24:53
Speaker
Now, why would this be meaningful? Well, before Gunter was unemployed, he had worked as a food technician or a food engineer. While this theory of the cipher is admittedly followed by those who generally believe in a conspiracy, they argue that Gunter had overheard something that he shouldn't have at his previous job, something about genetically engineered food.
00:25:18
Speaker
Now, while we're used to eating genetically modified foods in many forms today, they weren't approved for sale, at least in the United States, until a few years after Gunter Stoll's case. But Sleuthhounds, could that really have been a motive to kill?
00:25:37
Speaker
Theory four, similar to theory three, many point out that T-Z-E is a flavoring in yogurt. Was Gunter just thinking about his previous work as a food engineer? Did this message have nothing to do with his death, but everything to do with just his interests in that old career and trying to figure out a food issue with yogurt? Number five, radio.
00:26:06
Speaker
Many have pointed out that Y-06-T-Z-E are the call letters of a Romanian radio station. However, again, another puzzle, no one has been able to establish a feasible link between that radio station and Gunter Stoll. 6.
00:26:27
Speaker
Finally, some believe that the code was just all a part of Gunter's elaborate delusions. And that's the beginning and the end of it. Nothing more. That's the reason the code hasn't been broken. It's because there is no code. Just ramblings.
00:26:44
Speaker
After all, this random code was also accompanied by paranoia, as well as disorientation like the falling off of the bar stool, as well as other odd behaviors like his showing up on someone's doorstep at one in the morning to discuss his fears, and perhaps the delusions or an underlying mental illness might also explain his nudity.
00:27:07
Speaker
that Gunter had removed his own clothes. Many who support this theory argue that it's even plausible that a naked Gunter had run out in front of another vehicle, and that he had been driven to the wreck site in his own car to make his death look like an accident if it weren't.
00:27:26
Speaker
And to me, I guess this theory could make sense if his being run over by the car was an accident, like if he ran out in front of somebody and someone hit him. The perpetrator could have asked Gunter which car was his, either in a ruse that he would drive Gunter to the hospital, right?
00:27:47
Speaker
the whole plan all along was to leave him in that ditch. Or maybe the driver who hit him naked was intoxicated and wrecked off of the Autobahn in an accident as well. We'll never know.
00:28:05
Speaker
Either way, it would explain whether that was intentional to leave him in the ditch or the second accident were indeed a second accident if they were intoxicated, why they fled the scene, and it could potentially explain the sighting of a hitchhiker in the area.
Hope in Solving Cold Cases
00:28:24
Speaker
But honestly, Sleuthhounds, I really don't know what to believe. I know what I would like to think, though.
00:28:33
Speaker
Since most of the theories revolve around the message actually meaning something, I would like to think that they're right. I want to believe that this is something that someone out there listening might decipher. Maybe it's one of Gunter's childhood friends, or perhaps one of you.
00:28:58
Speaker
There are a small number of people out there who say that this whole case is just one of folklore, or at least one that's been marred by misremembered details and exaggerated truths to become the story that it is today. But in 1984, I mean, that was fairly recently, too recently for me to discount it as a myth. And besides, even in myths,
00:29:26
Speaker
There are grains of truth and lessons to be learned. And if it's just that, what is there to be learned here? Instead, I think that there's someone or perhaps even many people who know something, who saw something that night, saw a car with a similar license plate, saw a damaged car with little to no explanation of how the damage got there.
00:29:56
Speaker
Or maybe even someone who had a conversation with Gunter Stoll that might have contained a detail that's significant to solving this case. At least, that's what I hope, Sleuthhounds. That Chaucer was right. That murder will out. It's my hope that justice isn't a delusion.
00:30:22
Speaker
We all maintain as a truth just to keep a fragile fingerhold on a facade of civility. Instead, I like to believe the opposite, that justice is real and that it's faith and hope above all that hold the answers to life's biggest puzzle.
00:30:50
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
00:31:20
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.