Fresh appeal for information on 'Sligo Man' who died on a beach after boarding bus from Derry

‘Peter Bergmann’ or ‘Sligo Man’ as he is sometimes called, died of a heart attack on Rosses Point beach, in Sligo, on June 16 2009. The earliest CCTV sighting of ‘Bergmann’ was in Derry bus depot between 2.30pm and 4pm on Friday, June 12. He boarded a bus to Sligo, carrying a black shoulder bag and a standard carry-on luggage bag. He arrived in Sligo and checked into a hotel under the name Peter Bergmann. He also gave an address which later turned out to be false. He is said to have spoken English with a thick German accent.

‘Sligo Man’ was seen multiple times leaving his hotel with a full purple plastic bag and returning some time later with nothing. He seemed to have planned the places he disposed of his personal items so he would not be seen on CCTV. He bought ten stamps from the post office as well as air mile stickers, although it is unsure who he sent the letters to.

On Saturday, June 13, ‘Bergmann’ asked a taxi driver to take him somewhere nice to swim. The taxi driver took him to Rosses Point before driving him back and leaving him at the bus depot. On Monday, June 15, the man checked out of his hotel and handed in his room key. He headed by bus to Rosses Point, where he was seen walking on the beach by multiple people. The next morning, his body was found on the beach by a man and his son. He was wearing purple striped Speedo-type swimming trunks, with his underpants over the top and a navy T-shirt tucked into them.

The man, who was aged 50-60 years-old, also had other items of clothing which had labels purposively removed. These included a black leather jacket and black trousers which were sold in Germany.

It was concluded that the man had died from a heart attack, although he also had terminal cancer and bone tumours. His heart was in poor health and he had a fully gold tooth. Despite all this, the toxicology report found no traces of any medicine or pain relivers in his body. The Gardaí spent five months trying to find the man’s identity but he is still unknown.

Now, the investigation has been renewed by Locate International, an organisation which reviews and investigates unsolved missing people and unidentified remains cases. They are searching for anyone who knows anything about the man and his circumstances, including people who may have trained for the police, military or intelligence services in Germany, dentists who gave someone a gold tooth before 2009 or doctors who treated someone who matches the description for cancer.

Locate say they are ‘hopeful’ that someone, somewhere, in Germany or Austria has information that may help him be ‘reunited with his name’.

Anyone who has information is encouraged to contact Locate by calling 0300 102 1011 or emailing [email protected].