One of the strangest frigid cases in Ohio , if not the United States , has now been puzzle out — but pieces of the puzzle remain .
In 2002 , a homo known asJoseph Newton ChandlerIII fatally shot himself in the bathroom of his tiny flat in Eastlake , Ohio . His body was n’t regain for a week , by which point it was naughtily decomposed , and police were ineffective to obtain fingerprints . He had n’t pass on a musical note , and police force rule more than $ 80,000 in his bank history . A individual research worker , rent by a probate will judge to find surviving menage penis , soon key that the man eff as Chandler was n’t Chandler at all — he’d stolen the identity of an 8 - yr - old boy from Tulsa , Oklahoma , who fail in a car crash in Texas in 1945 .
Since then , rumors have been progress . police force find the adult male was most likely a runaway on the run — who else pass on $ 80,000 in a bank account and obscure behind a slip identity ? Some said he might have been a Nazi warfare criminal . Others think that he could be the Zodiac Killer , base on hislikenessto a police vignette of the ill-famed murderer who left a trail of terror through Northern California in the 1960s and 1970s . ( And , in fact , Chandler was in California at the time of the crimes . ) But after the initial round of research follow the suicide , the case went stale .
Today , U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott announced that his office and a team offorensic genealogistshad crack the case . Yet they ’ve only solved the first part of the mystery ‚ and are appealing to the world for aid connecting the rest period of the dots .
Their research shows that the man known as Chandler was actually Robert Ivan Nichols of New Albany , Indiana . A Purple Heart Navy veteran who served in World War II , Nichols had disappeared from his kinsperson in 1965 . He had left his wife and sons the twelvemonth prior , telling her , " In due time , you ’ll know why , " according to Elliott . In March 1965 , he wrote to his parent , saying he was " well and well-chosen " and asking them not to worry about him . The same calendar month , he send an gasbag to his son Phillip , which contain only a penny . There was no note . It was the last his family would ever hear of him .
harmonize to family lore , the warfare had taken a weighed down toll on Nichols , and he burned his uniform in the backyard after returning from service . He had no deplorable history . Associates who worked with him as " Chandler " described him as a lone wolf , someone who refused to rent others get close . carbon monoxide gas - workers say he would frequently vanish for day , and even weeks , at a time . He kept a bag take and ready in his flat at all time .
After disappearing from his family , he traveled to Dearborn , Michigan , and then to the San Francisco and Richmond , California country . He acquire the Chandler identity element in Rapid City , South Dakota , in 1978 , when he apply for a Social Security card using personal data ( including the birthdate ) of the son who died in 1945 . At the fourth dimension , such hoax were easier to pull off , since Social Security cards were seldom given to child , and so the real Joseph Newton Chandler III had never been given a Social Security number .
The break in the case came only after conscientious detective workplace that ask both sophisticated DNA proficiency and pounding the sidewalk . When Elliott took on the subject in 2014 at the request of the Eastlake police , he discovered Chandler had had colon cancer surgery in 2000 . He sent tissue paper samples taken at that clock time to the local aesculapian quizzer , who obtained a DNA visibility . Unfortunately , there were no matches between the profile and various interior deplorable databases .
Stumped , in 2016 Elliott turned to forensic genealogists Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick and Dr. Margaret Press of California - found IdentiFinders and theDNA Doe Project , a non - profit humanitarian go-ahead create to help discover Jane and John Does and return them to their family . ( Fitzpatrick also helped crock up the case of identity thiefLori Erica Ruffin 2016 . ) Despite a badly degraded sample , they used Y chromosome genealogy to follow a family unit line that indicate the dead man ’s last name was likely Nichols or some variation . In March 2018 , authorization tracked down a Phillip Nichols in Ohio , who provide a desoxyribonucleic acid sample . The sample distribution twin with that of the dead man , designate the pair were father and son . Phillip said at a news league today that he forthwith recognise photos of " Chandler " as his father .
Although the cold-blooded case has been solved , mystery remains . Why did Nichols abandon his family ? Why did he end his life ? What account for the residual of his singular behavior ? Although it ’s clear he was n’t a Nazi war criminal , there ’s still a chance — however slight — that he could be connected to crimes in California , devote his mansion at the time of the Zodiac Killer ’s activeness . " There has to be a reason he assumed the name of a deceased 8 - year - older son and went into hiding for so many old age , " Elliott says . When asked about the possible Zodiac Killer connexion , Elliott respond , " I ca n’t say for certain that he is , and I can not say for sure that he ’s not [ the killer ] . We have been working with San Francisco , [ and the ] Department of Justice , but that ’s a doubt for them , that ’s their investigation . "
Elliott says he is appeal for the public ’s help in trace the rest of Nichols ’s liveliness and mystery . Tips can be sent to the U.S. Marshals at 216 - 522 - 4482 .
