Episode 1 The Cave
Buried, Not Forgotten is a true-crime podcast about the mysterious deaths of Walter Smith and Peter Hauer.
Smith never returned from a bike ride from his summer job at Watoga State Park in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
A large-scale search was initiated that week, and volunteer cavers and West Virginia State Police would eventually discover Walter Smith’s body in a cave, under a pile of rocks, on private property.
The property owner, Peter Hauer, was a leading expert on saltpeter mining, an accomplished cave explorer, historian and treasurer of the American Spelean History Association. Hauer went missing that same week, shortly after being interviewed by investigators.
Some people believe the story in the police report; Peter killed Walter then took his own life. But many friends and neighbors refuse to believe that is what really happened.
In the course of the project, Buried, Not Forgotten we uncovered information about the police report, FBI investigation, and first-hand accounts that paint a very different picture from what police believed in 1975.
Listen to those closest to the case, in their own words, as the truth gets even stranger than it seems at first.
New episodes every week, beginning April 2021.