Fritz Stammberger

'Friedrich "Fritz" Ludwig Stammberger disappeared while scouting an expedition of Tirich Mir in Pakistan. His widow, Janice Pennington, published Husband, Lover, Spy after his disappearance with the help of her third husband Carlos de Abreu. The book claimed Stammberger was a spy working with the CIA and that ultimately led to his disappearance.

Life Stammberger was born in Munich, Germany. One of his earliest memories was of his home being bombed by allied forces during World War II. He immigrated to Aspen, Colorado in 1963.

Stammberger's widow, Janice Pennington, received military intelligence that Stammberger had joined the mujahideen and died in the early 1980s in Afghanistan. The CIA may have recruited Stammberger to gather information. Pennington's search for Stammberger continued until 1992 and led her to interview multiple members of U.S. and Soviet intelligence. The area of his disappearance is notable as it lies between the (then) Soviet Union, Afghan, and Chinese borders and was hostile during that time leading up to the Soviet-Afghan War. Pennington published the findings of her decades-long search for Stammberger in Husband, Lover, Spy''.