New evidence has emerged surrounding the mysterious deaths of two Americans in the mountains of Argentina. 

In 1973, teacher Janet Johnson and NASA engineer John Cooper became folklore across Argentina after they began a climb up Aconcagua Mountain with six other people – and never came back down. 

New York Times reporter John Branch explained the group of mountaineers were generally based around Oregon and travelled to Argentina together to climb the mountain. 

“Eight people went up the mountain and six people came back,” he told The Anton Savage Show.

“The group fractured on the way up, four people came down early because of high-altitude sickness. 

“The other four American kept going on up... of those four, two of them back and said the other two are dead.” 

Mr Branch noted the remaining climbers, Arnold McMillen and Bill Zeller, were “inconsistent” in their account of Ms Johnson and Mr Cooper’s disappearance, fuelling speculation. 

“There seemed to be a hasty exit out of Argentina to the United States and in their wake, the Americans left a lot of questions unanswered,” he said. 

“The media there and the folks filled the vacuum with thoughts of what might have occurred. 

“For 50 years some people in Argentina have thought maybe John Cooper was a CIA agent. 

“There was talk whether someone came across the Chilean border to kill them. 

“There was talk about money lost in the mountains, a love triangle, whatever they could fill the void with.” 

Bodies discovered

Amid the speculation, the known facts are Ms Johnson and Mr Cooper died under unusual circumstances on the Aconcagua Mountain. 

Mr Branch said following their disappearances, nothing could be done until their bodies were found. 

Six months after the climb, another climbing expedition found Mr Cooper, who quickly received an autopsy. 

“Not only did he have a strange hole, a cylindrical hole in his abdomen that went all the way to his spine, he had damage to his face,” Mr Branch explained. 

“The cause of death was not exposure or anything to do with high altitude, but brain damage because he had blows to the head.” 

Ms Johnson’s body was not found until 1975 when another group of climbers simply “stumbled upon” her. 

“Her face was battered – there were three places where they could see the bone,” Mr Branch said. 

“The three men who found her swore there was foul play – it looked like a murder scene to them.” 

New evidence

Several coroners agreed foul play, although there has never been conclusive evidence of how Mr Cooper and Ms Johnson die. 

New evidence, however, has emerged in The New York Times recently as Mr Branch received a camera containing photos of the pair’s last few hours alive. 

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