The Youngstown, Ohio Police Department announced that Robert “Earl” Sanders, who went missing in 1976, was identified through DNA technology and genetic genealogy. Sanders had lived on Parkwood Drive near Glenwood Avenue on Youngstown’s South Side.
It was 17,000 days ago to this day exactly, 46 years, six months and 15 days, Aug. 13, 1976, that a missing report was filed on Youngstown John Doe,” Capt. Jason Simon of the Youngstown Police Department said Monday.
Sanders’ remains were discovered in 1987 in Youngstown. And at some point, the skull ended up in the Youngstown State University anthropology department.
It wasn’t until 18 months ago that the identification process began.
Alisa Yelkin noticed the skull when she was an anthropology student in the 1990s. And wondered about the person’s identity for two decades.
Over the years, she tried to contact the police, with no results.
“I called, and I called,” Yelkin said. “Nobody took me seriously.” Finally, about 18 months ago, she read an article about Sweeney and the cold cases he had been working on. She called him. And they had a 90-minute conversation.
