CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Efforts are underway to identify the victims of one of Cleveland’s most notorious serial killers, 19 Investigates confirmed.
The Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office is currently working to exhume human remains at Memorial Park Cemetery in Highland Hills, where unidentified victims of the unsolved murders of the 1930s are buried in unmarked graves in a pauper’s cemetery.
19 Investigates was the first broadcaster to report on the exhumation plans in July.
“The exhumation is going to be difficult, though, because these are people who live on the fringes of society,” Dr. Thomas Gilson, Cuyahoga County’s chief medical examiner, told 19 Investigates in July. “They’re buried in a pauper’s cemetery. We’re dealing with records that are 90 years old. And as much as people would like to believe that this is a very systematic and orderly process, it’s not.”
The coroner’s office has partnered with the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit organization that uses investigative genetic genealogy to identify Jane and John Does.
At the time of the murders, only two of the Torso Killer’s victims could be clearly identified.
After exhuming the remains, investigators hope to obtain DNA profiles of the victims that will help identify a common ancestor.
“We find out who the DNA relative matches are, we build their family trees, find the common ancestors and then, you know, we go into the future or maybe look back a little bit to see who the unidentified person is,” said Jennifer Randolph, executive director of case management and operations at the DNA Doe Project.
In an interview with 19 Investigates in July, Randolph said she expected a team of four to work on each victim’s case, depending on how many victims were exhumed.
“So there could be people still alive who know that these people disappeared from their family and nobody knew what happened to them. And regardless of that, especially given the way they died, they deserve the dignity and justice of being remembered by their names,” Randolph said.
“Can we finally get an answer to that? I think that’s the exciting potential of it,” Dr. Gilson said. “I think if we even know who some of these people are at the end of the day, that would be a win for me.”
The DNA Doe Project is funding the investigation into the identities of these victims.
19 Investigators found that all this is possible thanks to a donor who covers the laboratory costs and other fees that can add up.
There is no timetable for how long the identification might take.
The serial killer of these gruesome crimes was never caught or identified, and nearly 90 years later, Cleveland’s infamous “torso murders” remain unsolved.
In the latest episode of 19 Investigates’ true crime podcast “Dark Side of the Land,” host Brian Duffy takes an in-depth look at the murders, along with experts with unparalleled knowledge of the case. The podcast also examines the new developments 19 Investigates recently uncovered regarding the Torso Killer’s unidentified victims.
“The Torso Killer” is available on all major podcast platforms including SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
All rights reserved.
