After almost 40 years they manage to identify the body of a murdered man in Ohio

After almost 40 years, investigators from the United States Police Department were able to identify the body of an African-descendant man who was found dead in a garbage bag in Twinsburg, Ohio.

According to the international news agency CNN, the victim was recognized as Frank Little Jr., a member of the R&B band ‘The O’Jays’.

In the mid-1970s, the body of the popular ‘Frankie’ was found in a garbage dump behind a business in Twinsburg, currently closed.

It was a worker from that establishment who discovered bones in the snow. He alerted the authorities and they found the bag with the remains hours later. As detailed in the first investigation, the subject had died at least two years.

The results also showed that the body belonged to a man Afro-descendant between 20 to 35 years old and approximately 1.67 meters tall.

The police presume that, from the way the remains were found, Little Jr. was murdered. He had signs of blunt trauma.

The mystery of its identification remained for almost 40 years until, in October 2021, the researchers began a collaboration with the DNA Doe project. It was they who provided the names of potential relatives and, through a DNA test, they managed to identify ‘Frankie’.

Summit County’s Dr. Lisa Kohler analyzed the samples at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Crime Lab and confirmed the subject’s identity.

“It’s definitely good that we can give the family some answers and I hope they have some sense of closure.” Twinsburg Detective Eric Hendershott told reporters.

“He had a life, and he finally ended up here in Twinsburg, with his life taken away by someone else,” he continued.

Frank Little Jr. grew up in Cleveland. In the golden age of R&B, in the mid-60’s, he was part of the band The O’Jays.

He served two years in the Army of the U.S and was part of a squad during the war of Vietnam. He had a daughter who passed away in 2012 and another son who has not yet been identified.

“He came with us when we ventured out of Cleveland and traveled to Los Angeles, but he also had a crush on a woman in Cleveland that he missed so much. He returned to that city after a short period. “, said in a statement the members of the band, after his disappearance.

In the statement they also indicated that “they wish their family and friends the closure of what appears to be a very sad story”.