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Two brothers from Ohio were arrested for the cold-case murder of a man whose headless body was found in a cornfield in 1997. 

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said that arrest warrants were issued on January 17 for Richardo Sepulveda, 51, of Cincinnati, and Michael Sepulveda, 49, of Toledo. And the U.S. Marshals made the arrests. 

The brothers were each charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, assault with intent to main, conspiracy to commit assault with intent to main, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence.

If convicted they face sentences of up to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.

Sepulveda brothers are awaiting extradition to Lenawee County, Michigan.

The headless body was not identified

On November 19, 1997, a farmer found the remains in a snow-covered cornfield near Blissfield, Michigan. The head and hands had been cut off, making identifying the body difficult.

The head and hands were never recovered. The victim’s identity still remains a mystery. 

Detective Sgt. Larry Rothman of the Michigan State Police First District’s Cold-Case Unit said that his team has been working on the 25-year-old case since 2016.

Rothman said the DNA profile of the headless body has been uploaded to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). And also submitted to genealogy websites. 

According to the DNA profile and the autopsy, the victim is a light-skinned Hispanic male between 20 and 40 years old. He was around 5’8” and weighed about 150 pounds.

As noted by NamUs, at the time the body was found a witness said the victim's name is possibly Roberto. And that “He was married with children and had a house where he raised chickens between McAllen and Weslaco, Texas. When ‘Roberto’ left home, he was supposed to be traveling only to Chicago and then back.”

Cold-Case Unit 

Investigators believe the victim died of head trauma. And they have not disclosed how the evidence points to the Sepulveda brothers.

“We’re constantly getting information back,” Sgt. Rothman said. 

“So far, we haven’t had an identification, but hopefully we’ll be able to identify the victim sooner or later, especially now that we’ve arrested a couple of people in the case.” 

“We’re hoping other people come forward,” Rothman said. “There’s no doubt that other people from that time period know some things." 

With new technology, genealogy websites can use a person’s DNA to develop their family tree. This allows cold case units to identify bodies and suspects.

“The potential to be able to solve decade-old cases that we didn’t have before with genealogy and technology is kind of a breakthrough thing,” Rothman explained. 

“It’s a great time to be able to revisit all of our other cold cases to see what evidence that we have that we can submit to the (crime) lab again or use genealogy to be able to break some of these cases.” 

Anyone who has information related to this murder investigation please contact the Cold-Case Unit at 313-407-9379.