Press Kit

Fast Facts, Sourced

• The caseAnna Maria Hitz, 17, heiress to the estate of Othmar John Hitz, reported missing from Washington, D.C. in November 1965.
• Front pageThe Washington Post, Tuesday, November 23, 1965: “D.C. Heiress to $10 Million Fortune Missing.” Original clipping in the archive.
• The turnThree days later she surfaced in Caracas, married and the mother of a baby daughter (Washington Daily News, Nov 26, 1965). Her mother doubted the cable was genuine (The Evening Star, same day).
• The fortune$10 million in 1965, counted at 30 to 50 million bolivars in the Venezuelan press. Roughly $150 million in today's money. Per the family, never collected.
• The reporterPer the family records, the Washington Post journalist who later approached the family to write a book was one of the two reporters who broke Watergate.
• The archiveAbout 144 original documents, 1965 to 1966, kept by the family for sixty years: US, Swiss, German and Venezuelan press, court papers, letters, photographs. Ten are public at /archive/.
• The tellerElisabeth Hitz, granddaughter of the heiress, author of the memoir, sole rights holder. Investigating the case since 2014.