More than three decades after hunters discovered human skeleton remains near a farm in central Ohio, authorities have identified the remains, formerly referred to as John Doe, as belonging to former Columbus resident Robert A. Mullins.
According to an announcement published Tuesday by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the remains were initially discovered on November 1, 1991 in a small grave excavated alongside a private farm lane north of an interstate highway. The office noted in a press release that over the years, officials reached a series of incorrect judgments on the identity of the deceased individual.
Initially, it was assumed that the remains belonged to an Indigenous person, but anthropologists later determined that they belonged to a woman with an estimated height between 5 feet 1 inch and 5 feet 4 inches. The attorney general’s office stated at the time that investigators estimated the remains had been in the ground for approximately three years prior to their discovery.
This Thursday, authorities in Ohio revealed the identify of human skeletal remains discovered more than 31 years ago in a shallow grave near Columbus that was dug alongside a farm. Facebook page of the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office
Investigators from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office and Pickaway County Coroner’s Office continued their search for the identity of the skeletal remains for the following 31 years, using DNA techniques to enhance the investigation as the technology advanced.
At the beginning of 2022, the sheriff’s and coroner’s offices partnered with AdvanceDNA, a company specializing in genetic and forensic genealogy, which uploaded a DNA profile obtained from the unidentified remains to numerous databases.
Tuesday at a news conference, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost stated, “This case is about the advancement of science.” “DNA continues to improve with time. In 1991, it was impossible to extract DNA from bones. This needed the development of mitochondrial DNA in the future.”
On November 1, 2022, the 31st anniversary of the discovery, investigators identified a key lead, contacted Mullins’ family members, and were ultimately able to positively match their DNA to the samples retrieved from his remains.
“This family has waited for answers for thirty-one Christmases,” Yost said in a statement. “When findings were delayed and the investigation went cold, law enforcement in Pickaway County dug in their heels and persisted until the advancement of DNA technology produced John Doe’s identification.”
Officials said that Mullins’ family reported him missing at the end of 1988 or the beginning of 1989. They told detectives that he was around 21 years old and 5 feet 3 inches tall at the time of his death, according to the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office. In a statement, the sheriff’s office praised Mullins’ cousins, who had never met him, for their cooperation in the investigation.
According to officials, the homicide investigation continues underway. Anyone with information is asked to contact Lieutenant Jonathan Strawser at the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office.
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