CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – One of Northeast Ohio’s John Doe cases may be one step closer to being solved.
It’s a story our investigative team followed in our series “Unidentified.”
This unsolved case has puzzled investigators for more than two decades.
We recently told you that investigators are using DNA and genealogy to solve the unsolved case of John Doe.
Now we have learned that the DNA Doe Project has received a usable DNA profile of 2001 Stark County John Doe back from the lab after a second DNA test was conducted there.
The case
Just days before Christmas in 2001, someone discovered the skeletal remains of a man in a remote part of Canton near an oil well road.
He may have been there for several years, but there were not many clues to identify him and the case stalled.
Last fall, the Ohio BCI released new digital images and a clay model of what he might look like in the hopes that someone might recognize him.
Here’s what we know about the John Doe found in Stark County in 2001.
He was African American, 21 to 44 years old, and between 5’4 and 6’0″ tall.
His weight as well as his hair and eye color are all unknown.
Investigators with the Stark County Sheriff’s Office and the BCI believe someone shot him.
They need his name before they can solve his murder.
What happens next?
The DNA Doe Project will upload John Doe’s DNA profile to a public ancestry database and begin searching for family matches.
A team of volunteers will be assigned to his case and will hopefully finally be able to find out his name.
The Stark County Sheriff’s Office and the DNA Doe Project, with the help of BCI, identified another John Doe just a few weeks ago.
Michael Allan Leach was found in Canton Township in 2020.
They are investigating his case as a murder case.
If you have any information about any of these cases, you can call the Stark County Sheriff’s Office at 330-430-3823.
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