a similar theme. According to an investigation by the British government in 1989, the available evidence did not back up the claim that Hess was murdered, and Solicitor General Sir Nicholas Lyell saw no grounds for further investigation. The autopsy results supported the conclusion that Hess had killed himself. A report declassified and published in 2012 led to questions again being asked as to whether Hess had been murdered. Historian Peter Padfield wrote that the suicide note found on the body appeared to have been written when Hess was hospitalised in 1969. Hess's grave in Wunsiedel became a destination for neo-Nazi pilgrimage and for demonstrations each August on the anniversary of his death. To put a stop to such pilgrimage, the parish council decided not to allow an extension on the grave's lease when it expired in 2011. With the eventual consent of his family, Hess's grave was re-opened on 20 July 2011. The remains were cremated and the ashes scattered at sea by family members. The gravestone, which bore the epitaph "Ich hab's gewagt" ("I have dared"), was destroyed. Spandau Prison was demolished in 1987 to prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine. A myth that the Spandau prisoner was not actually Hess was disproved in 2019. A study of DNA testing undertaken by Sherman McCall, formerly of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and Jan Cemper-Kiesslich of the University of Salzburg demonstrated a 99.99 percent match between the prisoner's Y chromosome DNA markers and those of a living male Hess relative. See also List of Nazi Party leaders and officials List SS-Obergruppenführer References Informational notes Citations Bibliography Further reading External links Rudolf Hess autopsy results (Italian and English) 'The Facts about Rudolf Hess', a transcript of a British Foreign Office report on Rudolf Hess's capture and subsequent interrogations. National Archives file # FO 371/34484. (subscription required) 1894 births 1987 deaths 1987 suicides 20th-century Freikorps personnel Burials at sea German Army personnel of World War I German people convicted of the international crime of aggression German people of World War II German people who died in prison custody German politicians who committed suicide German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Hypochondriacs Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Luftstreitkräfte personnel Members of the Academy for German Law Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany Members of the Reichstag