Nazi-hunter says he's closing in on 'Dr. Death'

Efraim Zuroff, head of the Israeli branch of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told a news conference that his mission to the southern reaches of the Americas led him to at least four people who claim to have seen Aribert Heim in the past 45 days.

"We're better off than before we came," Zuroff said. "That doesn't guarantee Heim's capture, but I'm hopeful."

Zuroff launched the investigation last week in the southern Chilean fishing town of Puerto Montt, where Heim's daughter lives, although she was reportedly overseas at the time.

Zuroff said during the past three years she has traveled several times to the Patagonian town of San Carlos de Bariloche in Argentina, which he visited this week. The Nazi hunter believes Heim is hiding out somewhere between the two towns, separated by the Andes mountain range.

"There is increasing pressure on Heim and on his family," Zuroff said Thursday. "People under pressure make mistakes," he added.

Zuroff told The Associated Press that the Puerto Montt trip was a "turning point" because he was able to speak face-to-face for the first time with acquaintances of Heim's daughter and raise awareness among locals.

"These are people who brought us specific details that gives us something concrete to latch onto," said Sergio Widder, the center's Latin American representative. He declined to elaborate.

Heim was indicted in Germany after World War II on charges he murdered hundreds of inmates at the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1941. The Wiesenthal center says he injected the corrosive poison phenol directly into the hearts of many and used "other torturous killing methods."

Zuroff says Heim's children have made no claim to a bank account with euro1.2 million (US$1.6 million) and other investments in Heim's name. To do that, they would have to produce proof that "Doctor Death" is dead.