The following is a true story.

 

SEPTEMBER 19, 1991 — THE ALPS — 10,000 ft 

 

Helmut and Erika Simon, a German couple in their 50’s, are hiking just off the trail when they discover a corpse protruding from the snow. They chip away at the ice to find a frozen body covered in tattoos, wearing a bear skin hat and jacket, grass woven shoes, carrying bow and arrows, sacks of medicinal herbs and a copper axe.

 

Investigators flock to the case and discover the corpse is 5,300 years old. The oldest perfectly preserved body ever found. His skull is smashed in and he has a defensive wound on his hand. An autopsy later finds an arrow lodged in his back and determines he bled to death. Having died in just the right place, unique weather conditions created a perfect preservation cycle of freezing and thawing, that lasted thousands of years — until this chance discovery was made by a couple of lost hikers.

 

Scientists name the body OTZI. This ancient murder mystery becomes a legend around the world, capturing the imagination of scientists, the public and media all over the the globe.

 

But who is this man frozen in time? And how did he die here so high up in the mountains?

 

This original series depicts the dramatic final days of Otzi’s life; the lives affected by this affected byt this miraculous discovery and the modern quest by scientists to solve the oldest murder mystery known to man.