  One of the most intriguing experimental results of recent years is the
observation of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) above the GZK cutoff.
Plausible candidates for the UHECR primaries are the decay products of a
meta--stable matter state with mass of order O(10^{12-15 GeV}), which
simultaneously is a good cold dark matter candidate. We study possible
meta-stable matter states that arise from Wilson line breaking of GUT
symmetries in semi-realistic heterotic string models. In the models that we
study the exotic matter states can be classified according to patterns of
SO(10) symmetry breaking. We show that cryptons, which are states that carry
fractional electric charge $\pm1/2$, and are confined by a hidden gauge group
cannot produce viable dark matter. This is due to the fact that, in addition to
the lightest neutral bound state, cryptons give rise to meta-stable charged
bound states. However, these states may still account for the UHECR events. We
argue that the uniton, which is an exotic Standard Model quark but carries
``fractional'' U(1)_{Z'} charge, as well as the singleton, which is a Standard
Model singlet with ``fractional'' U(1)_{Z'} charge do provide viable dark
matter candidates and can at the same time explain the observed UHECR events.
