Back Stories: Mystery Surrounding The Munich Massacre

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – While covering the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, CBS News reporter Dave Maresh found himself covering a terror attack, too.

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The West German government released an official report, saying the rescue mission had been successful and the Israeli athletes had been rescued alive.

"Of course, it was utterly false," Maresh recalls. "The motivation for this and how it got through otherwise unvetted and unstopped is in some ways the most perplexing and puzzling aspect of the whole event."

WCBS Sports Director Ed Ingles was there, as well. The duo waited for an update together.

"We must have been there a half hour and nothing was said about the Israelis. I said, 'Dave, I bet they're all dead,'" he says. "And the last thing the German spokesman said: 'All the Israelis are dead.'"