Komsomolskaya Pravda - Zolotaryov exhumation at Ivanovskoe Cemetery in Yekaterinburg

29 January 1959 Lozva river

In recollection, nine hikers leaded by Igor Dyatlov went on a trek in the winter of 1959 in the mountains of the Northern Urals. A month later the rescuers discovered their cut tent. And in a radius of one and a half kilometers from it - five frozen bodies. The corpses of the rest were found only in May. Almost all the hikers were stripped and half-dressed. Some had fatal injuries. It is not clear even to these days why the hikers ran away at a severe cold to their demise.

Semyon Zolotaryov, as we have already said, is the most mysterious person in the perished group. Semyon - according to the documents, was Aleksander (as Zolotaryov introduced himself) was born in the Kuban village Udobnoy on February 2, 1921. This is what he wrote in his autobiographies. However, according to the church calendar, his date of birth is March 1, 1921.

In October 1941, Zolotaryov was drafted and he went through the whole war without a single wound.

After the victory he graduated from Minsk Institute of Physical Culture. He left for Lermontov, a closed city due to uranium mining. He got a job as a physical education teacher. Was a member of the CPSU. At one of the party meetings Zolotaryov was asked directly: Why did you hide from everyone that your brother worked for the Germans during the war ?! (KP has a certified copy of this document).

However, despite this scandalous fact at the time, Zolotaryov remains to work in a secret city whose name was forbidden to be mentioned in letters and even to pronounce aloud. He was not expelled from the party either.

In 1959, going on that fateful journey through the Northern Urals, Semyon Zolotaryov announced enigmatically to his students "this whole world will start talking about this trek." He did not say anything in particular, only that they will soon find out about everything.

... The corpse of Zolotaryov was discovered three months after the tragedy. It was almost impossible to recognize him. In the autopsy report, strange tattoos and an inscription tattooed "DAERMMUAZUAYA" are described. But relatives do not remember this tattoo. His students who saw their teacher undressed to the waist in physical education classes don't remember it either.

Seven of the dead students were buried at the Mikhailovskoye cemetery in Sverdlovsk. Semyon Zolotaryov and Yuri Krivonishchenko for some reason were buried separately in the Ivanovskoe cemetery. Their graves are next to each other. Recently Zolotaryov's relatives gathered to put Semyon a monument instead of a dilapidated rough obelisk crowned with a star. But then another great mystery came up. It turned out that Semyon Zolotaryov generally does not appear in the lists of the buried at Ivanovskoe cemetery. The grave under the obelisk with the inscription "Semyon Zolotaryov" is not listed to belong to anybody. In other words, according to the documentation, Semyon Zolotaryov was never buried at the Ivanovskoe cemetery!

The grave of Semyon Zolotaryov - presumably

When Semyon's relatives asked us to help understand this story, we studied the documentation of all the cemeteries in Yekaterinburg, including, of course, Mihailovskoye. It turned out that Semyon Zolotaryov has never been buried in this city, and where his remains are is unknown.

So who then rests under the obelisk of Zolotaryov? And who is buried there? With all these questions on their mind, Semyon's relatives asked us to do an exhumation.

How difficult it was to get permission to open a non-existent (according to the documents) grave is a whole different story. Let's just say that it took us more than a year to achieve this.

And now with an eminent Moscow forensic expert (who we will not name yet) we came to the place of work. The workers' brigade quickly got to the remains. The grave was filled up not so much with dirt as with large stones. There was nothing left from the coffin, not even some decaying debris. Nothing left of the clothes of the deceased, only two buttons and two soles of shoes, size men's 42-43. But the bones and the skull are safe. There is only one front upper tooth missing. The absence of this tooth was not mentioned in Zolotaryov's autopsy report.

Only two buttons and two soles are left from the clothes and shoes

Workers open the grave

Our forensic expert determined right away that the remains were male. At the time of death, the man was 35-40 years old. And he was a smoker with experience, which is clearly visible from his teeth.

The remains will be scrutinized, and it's too early to talk about the final conclusions. So far, from the preliminary observations we can see fused fracture of the fibula on the right leg. The reasons for the injury could be various. We can't rule out a bullet wound. Another experienced expert was surprised by the unusual work of the dentist. On the right of the last wisdom tooth, there is a small fake cap. Its meaning and purpose are absolutely unfathomable. Maybe experienced dentists can say something on the matter in the forum?

Strange fake cap behind the left wisdom tooth

Thickening on the fibula is indicative of an old fracture

Forensic expert conducts a preliminary examination

In the following days KP will conduct an examination of the DNA of the person buried under Zolotaryov's obelisk to establish his kinship with the alleged nephews. And also KP will study together with experts fractures of the ribs of Semyon. It turned out that the autopsy reports don't quite match the injuries they found during the excavation.

After the exhumation, the grave was brought to proper order