For more than 30 years, family members of Robert Mullins held out hope that one day he would show up at their door. Maybe the 21-year-old had left Columbus to start a new life somewhere else — in Florida or Mexico, perhaps. His relatives could see him doing that.
Whatever the case, his sudden disappearance and prolonged absence cast an increasingly dark cloud over the family as months and then years piled up. His mother, Catherine, hired an investigator and, as a last resort, consulted psychics. When she died eight years ago, her heart remained broken, the mystery she’d struggled with since the late 1980s still unresolved.
Thanks to dramatic advances in DNA analysis, the dedication of two generations of investigators, and the partnership of BCI’s DNA lab, the Mullins family finally received closure in December: Skeletal remains that hunters found in November 1991 in a shallow grave in a Pickaway County farm field were identified as those of Robert Mullins.
“It’s shocking and sad, and nobody wants to get news like this,” said David Mullins of Columbus. “But it’s a blessing to know they didn’t give up on my little brother and are still working to find out who did this to him.”
Investigators traveled a long, difficult road to restore Robert Mullins’ identity, but they had to wait for the road to be completed before they could get to where they needed to go.
At the time that the bones were found, forensic DNA analysis was in its infancy; the first use of this science in a U.S. criminal court had taken place only four years earlier, in 1987. In fact, the forensic tool that would finally solve the mystery — called genetic genealogy — wouldn’t be introduced until 2018, a full 27 years after the bones were discovered.
Lt. Dale Parish of the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office and County Coroner Dr. Michael Geron — both now retired — were central to the investigation from the start. A thorough examination of the site yielded only the skeleton, minus the skull; no clothes or other items that might have helped identify the remains were found.
Parish and Geron quickly enlisted the help of a Purdue University researcher who, based on his knowledge of insects found at the burial site, estimated that the body had been in the ground for no more than three years.
With the start of a timeline in place, the next step was to determine the physical attributes of the victim and then cross-reference the information with missing-person reports. Unfortunately, because the state of forensic anthropology was nowhere near as advanced as it is today, investigators were misdirected: Two professors had concluded the remains were female, about 25 years old. What threw them was the victim’s small size, somewhere between 5 feet 1 and 5 feet 4.
For Lt. Parish, the two decades from 1991 to 2011 amounted to a quest for any lead that might advance the investigation. Early on, the bones were sent to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and the FBI lab, but extracting a usable sample of DNA proved difficult.
A major break came in 2012, when BCI sent the bones to the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas, one of the leading DNA testing sites in the nation. The results were jaw-dropping: The victim was actually a male, one who likely had ancestors from the Indian subcontinent. The university staff uploaded its profile to CODIS, the national DNA database that the FBI established in the late 1990s, but no hits turned up.
Fast forward to May 2019, when persistence and coincidence ran headlong into each other, changing the course of the investigation. The occasion was the annual Ohio State Coroners Association meeting. Dr. John Ellis, who by that time had succeeded Dr. Geron as Pickaway County coroner, happened to hear a presentation about unidentified remains by BCI’s DNA lab manager, Kristen Slaper. Afterward, he caught up with her and BCI Criminal Intelligence Analyst Jennifer Lester and told them about the box of bones in his evidence locker. He described it as his office’s “unicorn case” — mysterious and elusive.
DNA technology had advanced exponentially by this time, and Slaper’s first priority was to attempt to extract a large enough sample from the bones so it could be sent to a specialized lab for further testing. Lester, meanwhile, supported the Pickaway County sheriff’s and coroner’s offices, making sure the case was included in BCI’s Project LINK, dedicated to finding missing persons.
“Bone is a very hard substance to get DNA out of,” Slaper said. “The cells are flattened. There’s a lot of calcium. And as the bones become porous and dry out, the DNA degrades. That was the state these bones were in.”
Slaper’s lab processed some of the bones but did not get a profile. After discussion with various forensic scientists, another section of the BCI Lab — the unit that does massively parallel sequencing of DNA — worked on the remains.
“They took the bones, created some bone dust for us and we extracted a couple of more samples. We still didn’t have a great amount of DNA, but there was enough sample to send out for advanced testing to a lab that specializes in working with limited amounts of DNA.”
In this case, advanced testing meant whole genome sequencing, a process that would map all 3 billion pieces of John Doe’s genetic code, something BCI couldn’t do in-house. So the Pickaway County team and BCI turned to a company called HudsonAlpha.
Not long after, in 2021, Lt. Johnathan Strawser, the new commander of the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office detective bureau, met with Coroner Ellis to revisit the case. Neither man was involved when the case began in 1991 (Strawser was 10 years old), but their predecessors had hammered home their desire to solve it.
With HudsonAlpha having sequenced the victim’s full genome, they decided to pursue another avenue to identify the remains: genetic genealogy, a fairly new technique first used in 2018 to convict the Golden State Killer, a California rapist and murderer. At its core, genetic genealogy is simple — build an enormous family tree — but the process is painstaking.
Experts compare a DNA profile from John Doe to DNA profiles that have been uploaded by private citizens and are available on various databases. The more DNA segments that any two people have in common, generally, the more closely related they are to each other. From there, the process involves a massive search of public records to determine how everybody is related.
Such an investigative tactic would have been impossible before the rise of companies such as Ancestry and 23andMe, and before the popularity of consumer DNA testing in general.
After consulting with Slaper and other BCI forensic scientists, the Pickaway County officials contracted with Amanda Reno at AdvanceDNA, a company that BCI had worked with in the past.
Using the profile provided by HudsonAlpha — a data file that can consist of up to a million lines of code — Reno uploaded the information to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA for comparison. Each of these companies offers a central database where people who have tested at Ancestry or 23andMe or a similar consumer-testing company can upload their DNA profile for comparison against others who have done the same.
Equally important, GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA allow law enforcement agencies to upload samples from violent crimes or for unidentified decedents. Other companies do not. Between the two companies, nearly 2 million people have given permission for law enforcement to check samples against their profiles.
Each site provided a long list of matches — some “matches” amounting to only a single tiny segment of common DNA. Reno winnowed the list to the 40 DNA profiles that seemed most relevant, the closest possible relative being a third cousin. From there, she started to build out a family tree for each of the individuals to see how the branches connected. After nine months of work, she was looking at 4,000 names.
“You have to plot every single person,” Reno said. “Every person matters, because if one person is missing, it could be the person we’re trying to identify. So we have to painstakingly go through and validate thousands of records, some of which are hundreds of years old — obituaries, census records, court files, all types of public records that might help us connect our matches.
“Our research stretched into Virginia, Kentucky, Canada and all the way to England. Eventually, we were able to develop a specific profile for our unidentified individual. We needed a father with deep roots in the Appalachian region of Virginia and a mother with immediate connections to England and India.”
Reno contacted eight of the distant relatives; each volunteered additional family information, and some volunteered to share access to their results at Ancestry and 23andMe. Through one of these matches, Reno made a discovery: Deep in the DNA match list was a man named Christopher Mullins Jr. from central Ohio. She clicked on his name for more information and uncovered her best lead: Christopher listed his paternal grandmother’s birthplace as India.
Soon after, in November, Lt. Strawser and Reno met with Christopher Mullins and one of his uncles, David Mullins, who had moved back to Columbus and was living with his nephew. They learned that Christopher — about six year earlier, shortly after the birth of one of his children — had had his DNA analyzed through 23andMe. He quickly agreed to upload his 23andMe profile to GEDmatch for comparison. Within minutes, Reno was able to tell him that he was a nephew of the man whom law enforcement had been trying to identify for 31 years.
John Doe had his name back: Robert Mullins.
All the pieces fit. David’s mother and Christopher’s grandmother, Catherine, had been born in India to an Indian mother and a British father. When Catherine’s father died, her mother moved the family from India to England, where Catherine married a U.S. service member. The young man from the Appalachian hills of Virginia later deserted the family before Robert, the youngest of six kids, even had a chance to know him.
Ultimately, DNA provided by David Mullins confirmed that the remains were those of his little brother.
“What a tragedy to die unknown, to not have a name to put on a memorial,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “Thanks to the teamwork and persistence of two generations of investigators, coroners and forensic scientists over the course of three decades, the mystery has been solved for Robert Mullins and his family. The fact of the matter is, a cold case is not a closed case. Now we can get on with the work of finding out who did this to him.”
The case remains an open homicide investigation with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Matthew Hafey, who has been in office for two years, said the dedication of his team reflects the attitude that his predecessor, Sheriff Dwight Radcliff, brought to the case: “We don’t give up.”
The power of genetic genealogy
Law enforcement uses genetic genealogy to identify anonymous remains and to solve violent criminal cases in which an unknown suspect has left DNA.
The process is twofold. First, it involves taking a DNA extract through a specialized type of DNA testing, either developing what is called a SNP panel or doing whole genome sequencing. Second, it involves comparing that specialized DNA profile to samples from millions of consumers who have made their DNA information available to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA and permitted law enforcement to see their data.
BCI’s DNA Lab does not conduct the specialized DNA testing for developing a SNP panel in-house. Instead BCI partners with local law enforcement agencies to send samples developed at BCI to external private laboratories. Since 2018, BCI has sent out 34 cases, and 21 of those have been solved. Several other cases are still in progress.
Adult Correctional Authorities Reported Over 2,600 Inmate-on-Inmate and 2,200 Staff-on-Inmate Substantiated Sexual Victimizations in 2016–2018
WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Justice Statistics is announcing the release of Substantiated Incidents of Sexual Victimization Reported by Adult Correctional Authorities, 2016–2018. For the 3-year aggregate period of 2016–18, adult correctional authorities reported 2,666 substantiated incidents of inmate sexual victimization by another inmate and 2,229 incidents by staff. Most (62% or 1,643) inmate-on-inmate incidents involved abusive sexual contact, whereas most (69% or 1,549) staff-on-inmate incidents involved staff sexual misconduct.
During 2016–18, there were 1,023 inmate-on-inmate substantiated incidents of nonconsensual sexual acts and 1,643 substantiated incidents of abusive sexual contact. Generally, inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization involves nonconsensual sexual acts or abusive contact with a victim without his or her consent or with a victim who cannot consent or refuse. The report contains detailed definitions of the types of sexual victimizations, and it also contains statistics related to inmate-on-inmate sexual harassment, which are presented separately from other types of inmate-perpetrated sexual victimizations.
A third of incidents of nonconsensual sexual acts (33%) and abusive sexual contact (32%) occurred in the evening. Nearly a third of nonconsensual sexual acts occurred in the victim’s cell or room (33%), and a third of abusive sexual contact incidents occurred in common areas, such as bathrooms, showers and dayrooms (34%). Half of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization incidents occurred in an area not under video surveillance.
About 9% of substantiated incidents of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization resulted in physical injury to the victim and 4% resulted in major injuries, such as stab wounds, broken bones or internal injuries. The victim was given a medical examination in 61% of nonconsensual sexual acts and in 36% of abusive sexual contacts. The victim was provided counseling or mental health treatment in 64% of nonconsensual sexual acts and 50% of abusive sexual contacts. The perpetrator was placed in solitary or disciplinary custody in 62% of nonconsensual sexual acts and 55% of abusive sexual contacts. Half (49%) of nonconsensual sexual acts resulted in some form of legal action for the perpetrator.
Staff-on-inmate sexual victimization in adult correctional facilities includes sexual misconduct or sexual harassment perpetrated on an inmate by correctional staff. Of staff-on-inmate substantiated sexual victimizations during 2016–18, about 80% of incidents involved perpetrators who were employed full time, while 17% involved those employed as contractors. Correctional officers or supervisory staff perpetrated the majority (64%) of staff-on-inmate incidents, while maintenance or facility support staff (13%) and medical or health care staff (10%) were less likely to be staff perpetrators.
There were 1,598 perpetrators of staff sexual misconduct and 716 perpetrators of staff sexual harassment. Two-thirds (67%) of staff sexual misconduct perpetrators were female and a third (33%) was male. The distribution by sex for staff perpetrators of sexual harassment was the opposite: 69% male and 31% female.
While most (99%) staff-on-inmate sexual victimizations did not result in physical injury to the victim, the victim received a medical examination in 10% of staff sexual harassment incidents and in 26% of staff sexual misconduct incidents.
Legal action against the staff perpetrator occurred in 38% of sexual misconduct incidents and in less than 5% of sexual harassment incidents. Staff sexual misconduct led to the perpetrator’s discharge, termination or employment contract not being renewed in 44% of incidents. Staff perpetrators were reprimanded or disciplined following 43% of sexual harassment incidents.
The findings in the report are based on data from the Survey of Sexual Victimization, which BJS conducts annually, partly to fulfill mandates under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA; P.L. 108–79). The survey is administered to adult correctional authorities in all federal and state prison systems; all facilities operated by the U.S. military and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and representative samples of public and private jail jurisdictions, private prisons and jails holding adults in Indian country.
The report, written by BJS Statistician Emily Buehler, PhD, related documents and additional information about BJS’s statistical publications and programs are available on the BJS website at bjs.ojp.gov.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing and disseminating reliable statistics on crime and criminal justice in the United States. Alexis R. Piquero, PhD, is the director. More information about BJS and criminal justice statistics can be found at bjs.ojp.gov.
A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging Kevin Lewis Hedrick, 37, of New Franklin, Ohio, with attempting to coerce or entice a minor to engage in sexual activity and receiving and viewing child pornographic images.
According to the indictment, from August to October 2022, Hedrick used a cell phone in an attempt to coerce or entice a purported 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity with him through an adult intermediary. According to the indictment, the intermediary was an undercover officer posing as the mother of the child.
In addition, Hedrick is also charged with receiving and accessing numerous files of child pornography with an intent to view, including at least one image involving a minor under the age of 12.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after a review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal records, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum; in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.
This investigation was conducted by the Cleveland FBI, Akron Resident Agency. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carol M. Skutnik.
Video just released by Adam Good owner of a local business near the RR tracks called Adams Small Engine
Greenwich Police Department Chief told me yesterday that there is currently no threat to area homes and residents, there was a reported power outage following the incident, and crews are working to restore electricity at this time, but didn’t know how soon the power would be restored.
The Huron County Emergency Management put out a statement yesterday saying:
There was a train derailment in Greenwich earlier this morning involving approximately 20 cars. There were no injuries and there was not any hazardous materials released. CSX was the rail company involved and they are in the process of clean up. The Village of Greenwich is currently experiencing a power outage due to this incident. They are expecting clean up to take several hours and Kniffin Street will be closed for the duration.
UPDATE: Power was restored around 4pm yesterday.
They are hoping to have Kniffin Street open today.
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—In accordance with the order issued by the President of the United States of America and in remembrance of the victims of the shooting in Monterey Park, California, Governor DeWine has ordered that the flags of the United States and the State of Ohio be flown at half-staff upon all public buildings and grounds throughout the state until sunset on January 26, 2023.
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Cleveland OH Jan 19 2023 For the following Counties, Lucas-Wood-Ottawa-Sandusky-Erie-Lorain-Cuyahoga-Lake-Geauga- Ashtabula Inland-Hancock-Seneca-Huron-Medina-Summit-Portage-Trumbull- Wyandot-Crawford-Richland-Ashland-Wayne-Stark-Mahoning-Marion-Morrow- Holmes-Knox-Ashtabula Lakeshore-
This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for north central Ohio, northeast Ohio and northwest Ohio. .DAY ONE…Today and tonight.
There is a marginal and slight risk for severe weather across the area this afternoon and evening. The best timing is from 5 to 9 PM.
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH has been issued for Ashland County. A strong thunderstorm may produce dangerous hail, high wind and causing significant damage.
The main hazard will be damaging wind gusts. A tornado is also possible.
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is suing a “home warranty” company and its administrator for misrepresentation and unconscionable business practices.
“If you promise you’re going to do something and you don’t, that’s a lie,” Yost said. “We teach our children to be honest and work hard – a basic lesson this company should learn.”
Since 2018, more than 1,200 consumers combined have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office about Amazon Home Warranty, a Wyoming company based in New Jersey that uses a Columbus customer-service address, and Amazon Warranty Administrators, which lists a Dublin address but is not, as required by state law, registered with the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office.
Neither company is related to Amazon.com, the e-commerce giant.
Yost’s lawsuit, filed this week in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, says the two Ohio addresses are Regus-owned office rental spaces with no employees at either location.
Amazon Home Warranty, the lawsuit maintains, used various online platforms and social-media outlets to advertise service contracts to home buyers and sellers, with Amazon Warranty Administrators listed as the administrator of the residential service contracts.
Amazon Home Warranty claimed that its contracts covered the cost of repairs and replacements of major systems (such as an air conditioner) and appliances but did not provide consumers the advertised benefits. Such misrepresentations violate the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act.
When a “covered” appliance or system broke down, consumers – following the procedures outlined in the service contract– would contact the defendants to send a technician to diagnose the problem. Oftentimes, defendants would take days or even weeks to send a technician, prompting some consumers to expend time and energy to find a technician on their own. Consumers who went ahead with a repair through a technician they found would then be required to pay up front and wait for approval or reimbursement from Amazon Warranty Administrators, only to learn that their claims were denied.
An Amazon Home Warranty contract cost $400 to $650 a year, depending on the plan, and the standard per-call service fee averaged $70.
Attorney General Yost is asking the court to require the defendants to change their business practices to comply with Ohio law, reimburse consumers and pay civil penalties and court costs.
If you believe you have been victimized by Amazon Home Warranty or Amazon Warranty Administrators – or by another unfair or deceptive business practice – contact the Ohio Attorney General’s Office at www.OhioProtects.org or 800-282-0515.
Today, the Department of Justice announced it has submitted to the Federal Register the “Stabilizing Braces” Final Rule, which makes clear that when manufacturers, dealers, and individuals use stabilizing braces to convert pistols into rifles with a barrel of less than 16 inches, commonly referred to as a short-barreled rifles, they must comply with the laws that regulate those rifles, including the National Firearms Act (NFA). In April 2021, at an event with President Biden, the Attorney General directed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to address the issue of stabilizing braces.
“Keeping our communities safe from gun violence is among the Department’s highest priorities,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Almost a century ago, Congress determined that short-barreled rifles must be subject to heightened requirements. Today’s rule makes clear that firearm manufacturers, dealers, and individuals cannot evade these important public safety protections simply by adding accessories to pistols that transform them into short-barreled rifles.”
“This rule enhances public safety and prevents people from circumventing the laws Congress passed almost a century ago. In the days of Al Capone, Congress said back then that short-barreled rifles and sawed-off shotguns should be subjected to greater legal requirements than most other guns. The reason for that is that short-barreled rifles have the greater capability of long guns, yet are easier to conceal, like a pistol,” said ATF Director Steven Dettelbach. “But certain so-called stabilizing braces are designed to just attach to pistols, essentially converting them into short-barreled rifles to be fired from the shoulder. Therefore, they must be treated in the same way under the statute.”
Since the 1930s, the NFA has imposed requirements on short-barreled rifles because they are more easily concealable than long-barreled rifles but have more destructive power than traditional handguns. Beyond background checks and serial numbers, those heightened requirements include taxation and registration requirements that include background checks for all transfers including private transfers. Often, when pistols are converted to rifles by the use of a stabilizing brace covered by the rule, they have barrels less than 16 inches in length and must comply with the same heightened requirements that apply to short-barreled rifles under the NFA.The rule goes into effect on the date of publication in the Federal Register. The rule allows for a 120-day period for manufacturers, dealers, and individuals to register tax-free any existing NFA short-barreled rifles covered by the rule. Other options including removing the stabilizing brace to return the firearm to a pistol or surrendering covered short-barreled rifles to ATF. Nothing in this rule bans stabilizing braces or the use of stabilizing braces on pistols.
CLEVELAND – Kevin L. Walker Jr., 31, of Lorain, was sentenced on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, to 15 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko after he pleaded guilty to possession of drugs and distribution of fentanyl that led to an overdose death.
“As this sentence demonstrates, our communities will not tolerate drug traffickers and fentanyl dealers who kill or harm our neighbors, friends, and family with their deadly product,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle M. Baeppler. “Thanks to the collaborative work of law enforcement, another fentanyl pusher will now spend a significant time behind bars for his actions.”
“Fentanyl continues to flood our nation at an alarming rate, and the citizens of Northern Ohio are not immune from its devastation,” said FBI Cleveland Special Agent in Charge Gregory Nelsen. “This case reflects our commitment to address not only fentanyl, but also the assortment of narcotics making their way into our communities. We will continue to work closely with our federal, state, and local partners to identify drug traffickers and their networks fueling the epidemic.”
According to court documents, Walker was arrested in July 2021 by law enforcement authorities following a warrant issued for corrupting another with drugs. Authorities then searched Walker, a vehicle, and a room he rented and found that Walker was in possession of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and crack cocaine.
Officers then began an investigation into Walker’s drug trafficking activities and learned that on July 28, 2021, Walker intentionally distributed a substance containing fentanyl to a victim who later ingested it, suffered an overdose, and died.
This case was investigated as part of Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge (S.O.S.)., a joint law enforcement initiative that seeks to reduce the supply of deadly synthetic opioids and to identify wholesale distribution networks and international and domestic suppliers in Lorain County.
This case was investigated by the Lorain Police Department, Westlake Police Department, and the Cleveland Division of the FBI. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Robert F. Corts and Robert J. Kolansky.
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issued the following statement regarding the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision today in the case Kentucky v. Biden:
“The court reaffirmed a basic civics lesson: the executive branch cannot demand compliance with a rule it never had the authority to write in the first place,” Yost said.
The court agreed with a district court’s issuance of a preliminary injunction blocking the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors. The mandate would require tens of millions of Americans to wear face masks at work and be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Today’s decision is the latest victory for Ohioans against federal overreach related to COVID-19 vaccination mandates. In January 2022, AG Yost led a coalition of 27 attorneys general to seek an immediate stay of the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate issued by OHSA. OSHA withdrew the rule later that month.
Joe Lyons •
January 31, 2023
