WATCH | Mapping tourist’s final steps one month after he went missing in Cape Town

It’s a month since 22-year-old German tourist Nick Frischke went missing after setting off on a hike alone in Hangberg, Cape Town, on February 15.

Multiple search parties of community members, drones and sniffer dogs have turned up no leads on Frischke’s whereabouts.

However, his rucksack, cellphone and credit card were found in possession of local youths from Hangberg, leading to five arrests. Igshaan Fisher, Jason Abrahams, Vanroy Petersen, Carlo Guenantin and Melvin Guenantin appeared in Wynberg magistrate’s court on March 6, where they have been charged with robbery. 

The men allegedly held up Frischke while on his hike and stole his belongings before, they claim, the tourist made a run for it. He has been missing since.

The best piece of evidence to locate Frischke is the hiking app he reportedly used under the profile name, RunFire7, to find his way on the Sentinel trail above the Hangberg community. The app was opened a quarter of the way up the trail and was used regularly to try to stay on track.

TimesLIVE video has taken these co-ordinates and plotted them on a 3D map to show what could be Frischke’s final documented steps.

Frischke is seen on CCTV at 1.33pm on February 15 walking up Bayview Road, Hangberg, towards the Karbonkelberg trail head.

At the start of the trail there is a sign with a warning about crime in the area.

It is believed Frischke walked along the path on his way to Duiker Island, which according to the hiking app “is renowned for its marine wildlife, including the Cape fur seals and marine bird species such as the common cormorants and kelp gulls”.

TimesLIVE received information that a spotter for alleged poachers in the area — this is a well-known poaching area — saw Frischke walking to Duiker Island but quickly escorted him back up to the saddle of the trail. The spotter said Frischke was in good health when he left him there.

Frischke most likely made his way up to the Sentinel because at 2.06pm, 33 minutes after being spotted on CCTV, the RunFire7 profile on the hiking app is opened in what seems to be an attempt to locate the trail.

We can then track his exact movements until the last known plotting 30 minutes later at 2.36pm. 

The route recorded on the app roughly follows the trail up the peak, going off course for a few metres then returning to the trail numerous times. This continues until just before the summit, where Frischke almost makes it to the top before realising he is off trail again. He backtracks and finds the trail again, but a few metres away from the highest point, he stops. 

Suddenly there are three sporadic lines placed into the app — a straight line back to the start of the trail, then one back to the Sentinel Peak and then back to the start. This is the last input made into the app. And some believe this is when he could have been attacked.

Since his disappearance, there has been no sight of Frischke or his body, leaving his family in Germany distraught. The men arrested with Frischke’s possessions have declined to apply for bail and reportedly said Frischke ran off after they robbed him.

German media have quoted Frischke’s family, who are in touch with South African role players.

“Hope dies last,” his distressed brother Tom Frischke told news outlet RTL.

The media company also raised concern about the police investigation in SA: “Overall, the investigative work of the local police raises many questions.”

A private investigator has since also been appointed.

The search has been called off due to it being four weeks since his disappearance but will resume if any new evidence comes to light.

TimesLIVE

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