Money angle
Buyers search unclaimed inheritance and missing money. This case is the reverse missing-person mystery: the girl was found; the estate was not.
Last updated 2026-07-31
Othmar John Hitz built a coffee and real estate fortune in mid-century Venezuela. Contemporary press put the estate near $10 million in 1965 (30 to 50 million bolivars in Caracas papers), roughly $150 million in today's money. His only child, Anna Maria, vanished from Washington twenty-six days before she could claim an accounting, then resurfaced in Caracas. Per the family, no one ever collected the money.
Assets had been signed into other people's names, chiefly a lawyer's. A will registered in Caracas later did not sit cleanly in the registry the family expected. Jewels and securities were seized in bank vaults in January 1966. Swiss accounts, per the family, were never opened by them. Open questions remain public on the case file.
About 144 original documents, 1965-1966, four languages. Twelve public at /archive/. Machine index: public-docs.json. Narrative: Where is the Hitz fortune?