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.

More than a year later, she got the news that Earl Sanders was the person she had been wondering about.

“It’s so important. It was like Christmas two weeks ago knowing it was about to happen,” Yelkin said. “It was the greatest Christmas of my life because I finally got to know Robert (Sanders) and to know his name. It’s insane when you think about somebody that often,” she said. “You want to know where they ended up.”

DNA technology identified Sanders

The identification was the result of the detective work of Youngstown Police Department Detective Sgt. Dave Sweeney, the Ohio Attorney General's Office, and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation forensic artist Sam Molnar.

Simon gave credit for advanced DNA testing from Othram Labs of Texas and genetic geology from the Ohio organization Porch Light Project.  Porch Light paid for the DNA analysis and carried out the genetic genealogy at no cost to the police department.

At the end of the process, Porch Light provided a family tree. With the tree Sweeney was able to reach a family member, who provided DNA. And it confirmed that Youngstown’s John Doe is Sanders.

The investigation is ongoing, and the cause and manner of Sanders' death still remain unknown.